Implications of environmental and cultural factors on the growth in requirements of in-house software professionals.

Agrawal, Vijay K. ; Haleem, Abid ; Sushil 等

Abstract

The objective of the study is to identify the effect of culture and environmental pressures on the rate of change in the requirements of in-house software professionals based on the experience and perception of chief information officers in India and the U.S.

The findings suggest that environmental pressures and cultural factors play an important role in the growth of the requirement of in-house IT professionals (total, implementation, and operations). In the case of Indian organizations the variables-frequency of changes in marketing practices, predictions of competitors' actions, and masculinity had a positive correlation with the rate of change in the requirements of in-house IT professionals (total, and engaged in implementation). Further, there were negative correlations between frequency of changes in marketing and rate of change in the requirements of in'house IT professionals engaged in operations; prediction of competitors' actions and rate of change in the requirements of in-house IT professionals engaged in operations; power distance and rate of change in the requirements of in-house IT professionals (total and implementation); and uncertainty avoidance and rate of change in the requirements of in-house IT professionals (total). In the case of the United States organizations, the variable frequency of changes in marketing practices had a positive correlation with the rate of change in the requirements of in" house IT professionals engaged in operations. There were also negative correlations between uncertainty avoidance and rate of change in the requirements of in-house IT professionals engaged in implementation; and individualism and rate of change in the requirements of in-house IT professionals (total, implementation, and operations).

In this study, the culture is measured by using variables power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, and masculinity. The environmental pressures are measured using variables-frequency of changes in marketing practices, rate of product obsolescence, prediction of competitors' actions, prediction of consumer test/product demand, and frequency of changes in mode of production/services.

In the comparative study between India and the United States, the qualitative and quantitative data were collected through a survey of chief information officers in India and the United States. After validation, the data were analyzed using the correlation analysis.

Introduction

The worldwide spread of IT, along with the growth in the requirement of IT professionals and Endusers Computing, is well documented, with diffusion from developed to developing countries and the newly industrialized economies (NIEs) in Asia (Mody and Dahlman, 1992). Most businesses in the industrial world could not compete, and many could not even survive without computers and software (Jones, 1994). Now IT is an integral part of the products and services delivered to customers (Henderson and Lentz,. 1995/1996).

Today, multinational corporations and governments increasingly use IT for international business and commerce. While advanced countries have made use of this technology for years, IT has also started to make inroads into lesser-developed countries as well (Palvia and Palvia, 1992). Thus, the level of IT adoption is different from country to country, as are each country's key management information systems or CBIS issues (Palvia & Palvia, 1992). Businesses are generally regulated by a government policy in India (Palvia and Palvia, 1992). However, beginning with the New Computer Policy of 1984 (Dhir, 1992; Menon, 1990), the government aggressively promotes the increased use of IT in business and industry and promotes IT education to produce more IT skilled manpower to cater to business and industry needs.

The United States remains the world leader in IT (Westwood, 1995). Strategic Planning Services/Spectrum Economics projected the global IT spending on hardware, software, networking and other components at $2,600 billion for the year 2005 (Campbell, 2000).

Computer related technology or any other technology is essentially neutral, whether IT's application succeeds or fails depends entirely on the decisions as to how it shall be used (Bostrom and Heines, 1977). Also, the impact of IT in less developed countries depends on its adaptation to the local environment (Montealegre, 1998). Effective implementation of IT depends on the organization's vision of change, either by deliberate design or as an emergent phenomenon. Agrawal and Haleem (2003) argued that environmental and cultural factors play an important role in developing a positive mindset for successful implementation of IT applications. Agrawal et. al(2001) stated that due to high cost and associated risk, there will be usage of off-the-shelf/ERP solutions in higher proportion compared to proprietary software. Further, the control of information systems departments on their manpower and IT budget has been decreasing and shifted to end users (Edberg and Bowman, 1996; He et al., 1998; Lucas, 2000), due to the availability of knowledgeable end-users and extensive company support to End-users Computing (Turban et al., 2001). The end-users have replaced IT professionals from operations and contribute equally in implementation and partly in development activities.

This study deals with the development of a model for identifying the effect of environmental pressures and cultural factors on the growth in requirement of in-house software professionals (total and who are engaged in implementation and operations). This study addresses five interrelated questions upon which the entire analysis centered: (1) Can IT professionals be replaced totally by end-users from operations? (2) What are the cultural factors and environmental pressures that facilitate and inhibit the growth in the requirement of various categories of in" house software professionals? (3) How can the trends in United States organizations help Indian organizations in formulating their IT strategies regarding IT manpower planning? (4) How does the policy of the Government of India regarding liberalization and globalization influence the growth in requirements of in-house IT professionals? (5) Considering that IT projects are costly and risky, how can organizations minimize the risk and simultaneously use IT applications to maintain a competitive edge in the business?

The next two sections discuss the theoretical background and the model and hypothesis formulation, followed by discussion of the methodology used and implementation of research methodology. Then the article discusses the results obtained, along with the limitations of study and suggestions for future work. Finally, the authors summarize the findings with concluding remarks.

Literature Review

This section is divided into five parts: environmental pressures, organization as a socio-technical system, culture/use of computer, stages of IS growth, and usage of various categories of software.

Environmental Pressures: With blurring national boundaries, the numbers of competing organizations and knowledge workers have been increasing. Additionally, since the environment is turbulent, changes rapidly, and in unpredictable manner (Scott-Morton, 1991; Turban et al., 2001), it generally changes much faster than organizations. The characteristics of the environment include time compression-amazing short product life cycle, strategic discontinuity--compete in uncertainties, blurring organizational boundaries--increase collaboration, knowledge intensity, increase returns to the scale, and customer focused (El Sawy et al., 1999). New technology, new products, and changing public tastes and values (many of which result in new government regulations) put strains on any organization's culture, policies, and people (Sehein, 1985). Sutcliffe (1997) stated that the U.S. industries, with their backs against the wall from increased foreign competition, fought in past decade, to regain their position as global leader using information technology. For successful implementation of computer-based information systems/business process reengineering, the environmental pressures play an important role in converting the mindset of the organization's employees (Agrawal et al., 2003); hence successful IT applications will result in the growth of software professionals in industries or businesses.

Organization as a Socio-Technical System: A socio-technical systems approach views a work system as an open system, made up of technical and social subsystems (Schoderbek, Schoderbek, and Kefalas, 1986). The output of the work systems depends on the interaction between its subsystems.

The technical system deals with the processes, tasks, and technology needed to transfer inputs to outputs (Bostrom, 1980), whereas the social system is concerned with attributes of people (e.g., attitudes, skills, and values), the roles they enact, the reward systems, and the authority structure. To optimize the entire work system, the interaction of both subsystems must be jointly optimized (Huse and Cummings, 1985).

The social system is heavily influenced by the culture of the society and plays an important role in usage of IT applications and a higher usage of IT applications will generate the requirements of IT professionals.

Culture/Use of Computer: Theories in sociology, psychology, and organizational behavior suggest that a theory that applies in one culture does not necessarily apply, in total, to other cultures (Hofstede and Bond, 1988). Haire, Ghiselli, and Porter (1966) determined that national differences make a consistent and substantial contribution to the differences in a manager's attitudes: two-thirds national and one third individual. Herbig and Day (1990) indicate that certain socio-cultural conditions have to be in place for innovation to occur.

People interact with IS through a human interface. Culture impacts attitudes towards the use of computers and is enunciated by various theories. The study of Compeau and Higgins (1995) discusses the role of individuals' beliefs about their ability to competently use computers, a.k.a, computer self-efficacy. Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975) maintains that individuals would use computers if they could see positive benefits (outcomes) associated with using them. Davis (1989) included two constructs in his Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and highlights two constructs: perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Task-technology fit (TTF) implies matching the capability of the technology to the demands of the task (Goodhue and Thompson, 1995). Also, both theory (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975) and a recent path analysis (Baroudi et al., 1986) suggest that satisfaction leads to usage rather than usage stimulating satisfaction. There is increasing evidence that the effective functioning of an application depends on its ease of use or usability (Goodwin, 1987).

Hofstede (1984) identified four basic dimensions accounting for variations in culture that we have used in this study for measurement of culture: Individualism versus Collectivism: The extent to which the individual expects personal freedom versus the acceptance of the responsibility to family, tribal or national groups. More individualism will result in more innovation. Power Distance: The degree of tolerance and inequality in wealth and power indicated by the extent to which centralization and autocratic power are permitted. Higher innovation capacity is more available in societies having less power structure or little difference in power status within organizations. Risk (Uncertainty) Avoidance: The extent to which a society avoids risks and creates security by emphasizing technology and buildings, laws and rules, and religion. A high-risk avoidance environment is not conducive to entrepreneurship and hence dampens innovations. Masculinity versus Femininity: The extent to which the society differentiates roles between the sexes and places emphasis on masculine values of performance and visible achievements. Masculinity refers to assertive, competitive, and firm, whereas femininity culture refers to soft, yielding, dependent, intuitive, etc. Radical innovation thrives in more masculine societies.

The culture of the business houses will influence their decision regarding the usage of IT applications, which inturn will influence the growth in the requirements of in-house software professionals in the organizations.

Stages of IS Growth: Depending upon the level of IS growth, IT strategy is formulated by the organizations. A proper IT strategy corresponding to a matching stage of IS growth leads to successful implementation of IS applications in the organizations. Nolan (1979) indicates that organizations go through six stages of IT growth--initiation, expansion, control, integration, data administration, and maturity. Venkatraman (1994) has argued that enterprises pass through levels of IT--enabled transformation, which range from localized automation (exploitation), internal integration, business process redesign, and business network redesign to business scope redefinition.

The United Nations classified countries according to their computer industry development potential (CIDP) as follows: advanced, operational, basic, or initial (Porat, 1977). Palvia and Wang (1995) have developed a model of country specific CBIS issues and have added between operational and advance level, one more category named "newly industrialized countries" (NIC). According to this model, the level of IT adoption and the sophistication of the corresponding management issues increases from one stage to the next, i.e. from underdeveloped to developing to newly industrialized to advanced nations.

Palvia and Palvia (1992) focused on CBIS key issues in India, a nation classified as "operational" by the United Nations, and compared them to U.S. key issues. They concluded that the level Of IT adoption and CBIS issues are different from country to country. In the United States, operational and control issues have dropped to the background, and strategic and newer issues have come to the forefront, whereas the important issues in India are currently operational and control oriented. Further, it is not necessary that CBIS development in lesser-developed countries like India, parallel the "bottom- up" evolutionary cycle experienced in the US. It is conceivable that developing nations, with proper planning and advances in technology, can leapfrog into advanced strategic uses of IT.

Agrawal and Haleem (2003) stated that the organizations in India, being at operational level, have significant potential in the growth of IT applications. However, in the United States organizations, the growth in IT applications will follow a cyclic pattern since they are close to the maturity level of IS growth. Considering their arguments, the growth in the requirements of inhouse IT professionals in Indian organizations will have a rising trend, while in the United States organizations it can follow a cyclic pattern. These factors may have some bearings in the abnormal rate of unemployment in IT industry during the years 2000 to 2003.

Usage of Various Categories of Software: Agrawal, et al., (2001) argued that a move from tailor-made (proprietary) to off-the-shelf packages will reduce risk and cost at the expense of flexibility. If IT's role is only a strategic necessity and not a source of competitive advantage, then the substantial risks and high investments associated with tailor-made packages are not desirable. The combination of limited time available for development and the need for frequent changes will also make the option of tailor-made packages infeasible and unattractive. It does not seem possible for organizations to develop in a short period the complex and integrated large size packages which can be used for a short period. Additionally, such projects may require a very large in-house IT department with continuous training and upgrades of technology. They further argued that if IT's role is only a strategic necessity, then organizations will carefully evaluate every IT investment. Under this situation, organizations will tend to rely more on off-the-shelf packages/ERP solutions and outsourcing. Their requirements can be met economically by outsourcers, application service providers, and software houses using their economies of scale. Agrawal et al., (2001) further claimed that the object-oriented approach will make the development process simple, enhancing customizability and contributing to the growth of EUC. The manpower trend, along with the earlier discussion, leads one to believe that the concentration of IT professionals will shift heavily from in-house IT departments to software houses, outsourcers, and application service providers. Further, it implies that the current trend of decline in the requirement of IT professionals is a symptom of the higher use of readily available solutions, i.e. production and usage of more and more off-the-shelf/ERP solutions.

Model and Hypothesis Formulation

The relevant variables were identified as follows: rate of change in requirements of in-house IT professionals (total), rate of change in the requirements of in-house IT professionals engaged in implementation, rate of change in requirements of in-house IT professionals engaged in operations, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, masculinity, frequency of changes in marketing practices, rate of product obsolescence, prediction of competitors' actions, prediction of consumer test/product demand, and frequency of changes in mode of production/ services.

The model (Figure 1) showing the relationships among the variables has been prepared. The following hypotheses were developed:

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

Hypotheses

* H1: The severity in environmental pressures (frequency of changes in marketing practices, rate of product obsolescence, prediction of competitors' actions, prediction of consumer test/product demand, and frequency of changes in mode of production/services) are positively correlated with rate of change in the requirements of in-house IT professionals (total, implementation, operations).

* H2: Power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and individualism are negatively correlated with rate of change in the requirements of in-house IT professionals (total, implementation, operations).

* H3: Masculinity is positively correlated with rate of change in the requirements of in-house IT professionals (total, implementation, operations).

Methodology

This study has been confined to manufacturing, telecommunication (hardware), computer hardware, banking, hotels, and airlines. This particular study has been defined as an exploratory and descriptive "survey" approach in order to achieve more generalizability and additional richness. The study is divided into two phases:

Phase 1-Exploratory Study: In the first phase, a literature search, an obvious first step in an exploratory study, was conducted, followed by interviews. The data gathered from a literature search and interviews were analyzed, and a revised version of the problem list and a questionnaire were developed.

Phase 2--Survey, Validation, and Data Analyses: In the second phase, after validation, a questionnaire survey was used to answer the research questions. The data are qualitative and quantitative in nature and were used to test the hypotheses using correlation and multiple regressions.

Implementation of Research Methodology

Questionnaire Design: The questionnaire uses the Likert scale with nine intervals, from low to high, with equal weights. Because of the difficulties in measurement, open-ended questions were avoided. The questions are mutually exclusive.

Questionnaire Validation and Testing." The questionnaire validation exercise was divided into four parts: face validity, criterion validity, content validity, and construct validity. Due to multiple variations and combinations in this study, a general model as proposed in Figure 1 is considered uniformly to facilitate the needed comparison between organizations of India and the United States. After field-testing, the questionnaires were mailed for survey research.

Administering the Instrument: The questionnaire survey was administered following the guidelines suggested by Dillman (1978, and 2000). For the United States, stratified sampling was used. In India, a judgment sampling was used.

A total of 423 questionnaires in India and 384 in the United States were mailed. After about three weeks a follow up letter was mailed requesting that that the completed questionnaires be returned at the respondents' earliest convenience. Out of the questionnaires received, the total usable responses were 102 from India and 80 from the United States, resulting in a response rate of 26.39 percent in India and 23.08 percent in the United States. This response rate compares favourably to marl surveys reported in the IS literature, many of whom have less than 25 percent response rate (Jeong, 1995).

Data Processing and Results

The results of statistical analysis are presented to show the degree of association among the variables and examine the statistical significance of the model presented. The significance level of 0.01 and 0.05 are very common in a larger sample size. In our case the sample size is 102 (India) and 80 (U.S.A.); thus, the significance level of 0.1 is considered appropriate. Further, for generalization of model and considering the number of combinations of options in the study, the significance level of 0.1 is justified. Software package SPSS version. 10 has been used for statistical analysis to validate hypotheses. For discussion on relative significance, the mapping of mean values is done using the criteria given in Table I. Because the nine intervals could not be divided equally with meaningful separation points, the upper and lower extreme values taken are relatively of smaller range.

This part is divided into five sub-parts: culture, effect of environmental pressures, descriptive statistics of variables, results and analysis, and validation of hypotheses.

Culture: For cross comparison the culture is measured based on four parameters: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, and masculinity. Table II contains mapping of mean values for both the countries. The mean values are also plotted in Figure 2.

In comparison with the values in India, organizations in the United States are having moderate values for power distance, and uncertainty avoidance. These attitudes seem to be contributing significantly in the successful usage and implementation of IT. Additionally, within moderate range the organizations in the United States are having values for individualism, and masculinity closer to the upper limit, while in India, it is at the lower end of the range.

Effect of Environmental Pressures: The mapping of mean values for both the countries is given below in Table III and their relative differences are also depicted in Figure 3.

In comparison with the values in India, organizations in the United States exhibited a significant difference in frequent changes in marketing practices to keep up with its market and competitors. This parameter differentiates both countries and seems to be a major contributor in developing a positive mind set for incorporating changes with the help of IT/BPR. Furthermore, within moderate range the organizations in the United States are having value for predictions of competitors' actions closer to the upper limit, while in India, it is near the lower end of the range.

Descriptive Statistics of Variables: Table IV contains the perception of the respondents containing the annual growth up to the year 2010 (descriptive statistics of variables). The results can be argued for the organizations in India and U.S.A. as below:

* India: The Indian organizations are at operational level of IS growth and sophistication (Palvia and Palvia, 1992), and due to abundant scope of growth in IT applications, the requirements of IT professionals are expected to increase. This argument is supported by the positive growth rate (Table IV) perceived by the respondents. Further, due to an opening of the economy, the competitive pressures in India are increasing. The cultural factors and environmental pressures indicate that the values in Indian organizations are getting closer to the values is the United States organizations.

[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]

* U.S.A.: Because of an open economy, the economic environment in the United States is very competitive compared to India. For the organizations, these competitive pressures have resulted in cutting costs and improving productivity, using automation to a great extent. The environmental factors are expected to continuously drive organizations to higher usage of technology for maintaining a competitive edge. Contrarily, the growth in End-users Computing and higher amount of automation will result in lower requirements of IT professionals. Even though, United States organizations are at higher level IS growth compared to Indian organizations (Palvia and Palvia, 1992), with severity in competition it is expected that the United States organizations will rely more heavily on IT applications, resulting in the requirements of IT professionals in higher proportion. The overall negative growth in the requirements of IT professionals indicates that the growth in End-users Computing and higher usage of off-the-shelf/ERP solutions will offset the increase in requirements of IT professionals generated, due to the increase in usage of IT applications.

Results and analysis: The results of correlations are summarized and tabulated in Table V. The interpretation of the results is given below:

* Frequent changes in marketing practice

India: A positive correlation between frequent changes in marketing practices and rate of change in the requirements of in-house IT professionals (total, and implementation) supports the argument that this variable facilitates the growth of IT professionals in the organizations. The positive correlation can be argued considering the competitive pressures in the country. Further, the negative correlation between frequent changes in marketing practices and rate of change in the requirements of in-house IT professionals engaged in operations reveals a growth in End-users Computing caused by the growth in knowledge workers and simplicity in the usage of IT applications.

[FIGURE 3 OMITTED]

U.S.A.: There are no statistical significant results obtained.

* Rate of obsolescence of the product

India: There are no statistical significant results obtained.

U.S.A.: There are no statistical significant results obtained.

* Prediction of competitors' actions

India: A positive correlation between the prediction of competitors' actions and rate of change in the requirements of in-house IT professionals (total, and implementation) supports the argument that this variable helps in the growth of IT professionals in the organizations. The positive correlation can be argued considering the competitive pressures in the country. Thus, the negative correlation between prediction of competitors' actions and rate of change in the requirements of in-house IT professionals engaged in operations, reveals a growth in End-users Computing caused by a growth in knowledge workers and simplicity in the usage of IT applications.

U.S.A.: There are no statistical significant results obtained.

* Prediction of consumer test/product demand

India: There are no statistical significant results obtained.

U.S.A.: There are no statistical significant results obtained.

* Frequency of changes in mode of production/services:

India: There are no statistical significant results obtained.

U.S.A.: A positive correlation between frequency of changes in mode of production/services and rate of change in the requirements of IT professionals engaged in operational functions (mean value is negative, i.e. positive correlation will result in higher negative value) can be attributed to the growth in End-users Computing caused by growth in knowledge workers and the simplicity in the usage of IT applications.

* Power distance

India: A negative correlation between power distance and rate of change in the requirements of in-house IT professionals (total, and implementation) supports the argument that lower values of power distance will help in the growth of IT applications, resulting in growth in IT professionals.

U.S.A.: There are no statistical significant results obtained.

* Uncertainty avoidance

India: A negative correlation between uncertainty avoidance and rate of change in the requirements of in-house IT professionals (total, and implementation) supports the argument that higher risk-taking will help in the growth of IT applications, resulting in growth in IT professionals. IT applications are high cost and high risk proposition for the organizations (Agrawal et. al., 2001).

U.S.A.: A negative correlation between uncertainty avoidance and rate of change in the requirements of in-house IT professionals engaged in implementation (mean value is negative) supports the argument that this variable will help in the growth of usage in off-the-shelf/ERP solutions (Agrawal et. al., 2001), compared to proprietary solutions, which in turn will result in growth in IT professionals engaged in implementation in the organizations. The higher usage in off-the-shelf/ERP solutions will help organizations minimize the high cost and risk associated with the development of application software.

* Individualism

India: There are no statistical significant results obtained.

U.S.A.: A negative correlation between individualism and rate of change in the requirements of in-house IT professionals (total, implementation, operations--mean values are negative) supports the argument that this variable helps in the growth of IT professionals. A higher skill level in manpower is expected to contribute more development/usage of technology and technological solutions. However, due to usage of off-the-shelf/ERP packages in higher proportion (Agrawal et al., 2001) and faster obsolescence of technology, the growth of IT professionals in implementation/ operations is justified.

* Masculinity

India: A positive correlation between masculinity and rate of change in the requirements of in-house IT professionals (total, and implementation) supports the argument that this variable helps in the growth of IT professionals in the organizations. The positive correlation can be argued, considering the competitive pressures in the country.

U.S.A.: There are no statistical significant results obtained.

Validation of Hypotheses: Based on the results and above interpretation, the hypotheses can be concluded (Table VI):

The results obtained from statistical correlation analysis can be summarized for Indian organizations as follows:

** Due to opening up of the economy, the competitive pressures are increasing in the organizations. Further, Indian organizations are at a lower level of IT growth and sophistication. As per the experience of the United States (Sutcliff, 1997), Indian organizations are willing to use IT to counter the effect of competitive forces.

** The growth in the requirement of IT professionals (total, and implementation) positively correlates with variables-frequency of changes in marketing, predictions of competitors' actions, and masculinity. The negative correlation with power distance (total, and implementation) and uncertainty avoidance (total) also reveals that in Indian organizations, these variables are expected to contribute to the growth of IT professionals.

** The negative correlation between the rate of change in in-house IT professionals engaged in operations with frequency of changes in marketing and prediction of competitors' actions supports the argument that there is a growth in End-users Computing and that IT professionals are being replaced from operations activity. The other factor contributing in this trend may be the simplicity in the usage of IT applications.

Similarly, based on statistical correlation analysis, we could summarize the results for the United States organizations as below:

** The rapid growth in End-users Computing and equal support in the form of simplicity in operations of IT applications results in replacement of IT professionals from operational functions (a positive correlation between frequency of changes in mode of production/services and growth in the requirements of in-house IT professionals in operations). Furthermore, the organizations may use more automation for their products and services along with productivity tools in the development of software to control costs. However, the faster obsolescence in technology may require more operational support from IT professionals (negative correlation between individualism and growth in the requirement of in-house IT professionals in operations).

** The United States organizations are expected to use a higher proportion of off-the-shelf/ERP solutions (Agrawal et. al., 2001) to minimize the risk and high cost associated with the development of proprietary application software. The growth in the requirements of in-house IT professionals engaged in implementation supports this argument (negative correlation between uncertainty avoidance and growth in the requirements of in-house IT professionals engaged in implementation).

** The severity in competition is expected to be addressed by using a higher level of IT applications. This seems to be possible with a higher skill level available in the manpower of US organizations, which will also contribute to the growth of in-house IT professionals (negative correlation between individualism and growth in the requirements of in-house IT professionals--total, and implementation).

Limitations of the Study

As with any other study, this research also has several limitations that need to be discussed. First, the list of variables pertaining to IT related issues might reflect some biases. Although the literature was thoroughly reviewed and additional perspectives were obtained form IS academicians and managers, we do not claim that these are the only variables that could be included. Thus, it must be stressed that any interpretation of the findings be made in light of the selected set of variables, issues, and categories. Availability of literature in the area of information technology in context to developing countries was found to be scarce and limited. Any research that uses data gathered for inferential statistics assumes that the data are collected randomly from the population. Random sampling was used in the case of U.S. organizations, while stratified judgment sampling was used in the case of Indian organizations. Since, the questionnaire survey involved people from various departments such as information systems, administration, accounting/finance, production, etc, a balance among the number of respondents from each department could not be achieved. Secondly, with organizations in India, multiple samples have been collected because the executives of these firms showed keen interest in this study, and in India there are a limited number of organizations with experience of IT applications for more than five years. As well, the choice of firms for the questionnaire survey in India was restricted to technological hubs located in northern, southern, and western parts of the country. There exists a base of firms scattered in other parts of the country, which could not be included in the sample. Additionally, samples were collected from the manufacturing sector (telecommunication hardware, computer hardware, and other manufacturing industries) and service sector (banking, hotels, and airlines). Other types of organizations like insurance, financial institutions, etc. are not included in the sample. Thus, any inferences based on the results might be restricted to the companies listed in the directory.

Suggestions for Further Work

As this study lays the foundation for further work in the area of growth in the requirement of IT professionals in different functional areas, it provides several study opportunities for future research. The results suggest that it might be useful to develop a number of comprehensive models. Therefore, future research can extend this study to include additional factors such as organizational maturity, IS sophistication, etc, to test a variety of such factors. In studying this, future research is recommended that utilizes more rigorous methodologies, employing longitudinal approaches and non-linear relationships. Further, with a broader sample and number of variables, a more generalized model can be developed.

Concluding Remarks

The main objective of this study was to arrive at a better understanding of the number of issues pertaining to the implications of environmental pressures and cultural factors on the growth in requirements of in-house software professionals in India and learning from the experience of the United States, the world leader in IT applications. This research has allowed us to investigate a number of issues and identify that in United States organizations: (1) the rapid growth in End-users Computing caused by growth in knowledge workers and the simplicity in operations of IT applications results in replacement of IT professionals from operations function (a positive correlation between frequency of changes in mode of production/services and growth in the requirements of in-house IT professionals in operations), (2) the organizations may use more automation for their products and services along with productivity tools in the development of software to control costs. However, the faster obsolescence in technology may require more operational support from IT professionals (negative correlation between individualism and growth in the requirement of in-house IT professionals in operations), (3) the organizations are expected to use a higher proportion of off-the-shelf/ERP solutions (Agrawal et. al., 2001) to minimize the risk and high cost associated with the development of proprietary application software. The growth in the requirements of in-house IT professionals engaged in implementation supports this argument (negative correlation between uncertainty avoidance and growth in the requirements of in-house IT professionals engaged in implementation), and (4) the severity in competition is expected to be addressed by using a higher level of IT applications. This seems to be possible with a higher skill level available in the manpower of U.S. organizations, which will also contribute in the growth of in-house IT professionals (negative correlation between individualism and growth in the requirements of in-house IT professionals--total, and implementation).

However, in case of Indian organizations: (1) due to an opening up of the economy, competitive pressures are increasing in the organizations. Further, Indian organizations are at a lower level of IT growth and sophistication. As per the experience of the United States (Sutcliff, 1997), the Indian organizations are willing to use IT to counter the effect of competitive forces, (2) The growth in the requirement of IT professionals (total, and implementation) positively correlates with variables-frequency of changes in marketing, predictions of competitors' actions, and masculinity. Further, the negative correlation with power distance (total, and implementation) and uncertainty avoidance (total) reveals that in Indian organizations these variables are expected to contribute in the growth of IT professionals, (3) the negative correlation between the rate of change in in-house IT professionals engaged in operations with frequency of changes in marketing and prediction of competitors' actions supports the argument that there is a growth in End-users Computing and that IT professionals are being replaced from operations activity. The other factor contributing to this trend may be the simplicity in the usage of IT applications. Since the United States is at higher level of IS growth and sophistications, the experience of the United States organizations will help Indian counterparts formulate their IT strategies.

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Table I: Mapping of the Mean Values of Data Items and Variables Used
for the Study Using Likert's Scale of Nine Intervals

Range of Mean Values Level of Significance

Up to 1.500 Very Low
From 1.501 to 3.500 Low
From 3.501 to 5.50 Moderate
From 5.501 to 7.50 High
Above 7.500 Very High

Table II: Mapping of Mean Values of Variables

 Variable
Variable Description Code India U.S.A.

Power distance (degree of V219 (C8A) High Moderate
inequality among people which
the population of a culture
considers normal)

Uncertainty avoidance (degree V220 (C8b) High Moderate
to which people in a culture
feel uncomfortable with
uncertainty and ambiguity)

Individualism (degree to V221 (C8C) Moderate Moderate
which people in a culture
prefer to act as individuals
rather than members of groups)

Masculinity (degree to which V222 (C8D) Moderate Moderate
values like assertiveness,
performance, success, and
competitiveness prevail among
people of a culture over
gentle values like quality of
life, maintaining warm
personal relationships,
service, care of the
weak, etc.)

Table III: Mapping of Mean Values of Variables

Variable Description Variable Code India U.S.A.

The changes in Marketing V212 {A9(a)} Moderate High
 Practices to keep up with
 Its market and competitors
The rate of obsolescence of V213 {A9(b)} Moderate Moderate
 your product
Predictions of competitors' V214 {A9(c)1 Moderate Moderate
 actions (fairly easy to
 very unpredictable)
Forecast of demand and V215 (A9(d)) Moderate Moderate
 prediction of consumer test
 (easy to very difficult)
The mode of production/ V216 W(e)) Moderate Moderate
 services (well established
 to subject to very much
 change)

Table IV: Description Statistics of Variables

 India
Sr.
No. Code Description Mean Value of Annual
 Increase/Decrease in the
 Requirements of In-house
 Software Professionals
1.0 ROCIT Software Professionals +4.157
 (Total)
2.0 ROCIM Software Professionals +2.812
 engaged in
 Implementation
3.0 ROCIOP Software Professionals +0.301
 engaged in
 Operations

Sr.
No. Code Description U.S.A.

 Mean Value of Annual
 Increase/Decrease in the
1.0 ROCIT Software Professionals Requirements of In-house
 (Total) Software Professionals
2.0 ROCIM Software Professionals -2.443
 engaged in
 Implementation -0.883
3.0 ROCIOP Software Professionals
 engaged in
 Operations -0.966

Table V: Correlation analysis of Variables

 India U.S.A.

 ROCIT ROCIM ROCIOP ROCIT ROCIM ROCIOP
A9A POSO1 POSO1 NEGO5
A9B
A9C POS01 POSO1 NEG05
A9D
A9E POSO1
C8A NEGO1 NEGO1
C8B NEGO1 NEGO5
C8C NEG10 NEGO1 NEG05
C8D POSO1 POSO1

NEG = Negative; POS = Positive; Suffix 01 = Correlation is Significant
at 0.01 level (2-tailed); Suffix 05 = Correlation is Significant at
0.05 level (2-tailed); Suffix 10 = Correlation is significant at 0.1
level (2-tailed). ROCIT = Rate of Change in Requirements of In-house
Software Professionals (Total); ROCIM =Rate of Change in Requirements
of In-house Software Professionals engaged in Implementation; ROCIO =
Rate of Change in Requirements of In-house Software Professionals
engaged in Operations.

Table VI: Conclusion of Hypotheses

H.1: The severity in environmental pressures (frequency of
changes in marketing practices, rate of product obsolescence,
prediction of competitors actions, prediction of consumer
test/product demand, and frequency of changes in mode of
production/services) are positively correlated with rate of
change in the requirements of in-house. IT professionals
total, implementation, operations).

 INDIA U.S.A. COMMENTS

Frequency of changes in Accept
marketing practices is
positively correlated with
rate of change in the
requirements of in-house
IT professionals.

Frequency of changes in Accept
marketing practices is
positively correlated with
rate of change in the
requirements of in-house IT
professionals engaged in
implementation

Frequency of changes in Do Not ** Significant
marketing practices is Accept ** negative
positively correlated with correlation
rate of change in the
requirements of in-house IT
professionals engaged in
operations.

Rate of product obsolescence
is positively correlated with
rate of change in the
requirements of in-house IT
professionals.

Rate of product obsolescence
correlated with rate of
change in the requirements of
in-house IT professionals
engaged in implementation

Rate of product obsolescence
is positively with rate of
change in the requirements of
in-house IT professionals
engaged in operations.

Prediction of competitors Accept
faction is positively
correlated with rate of
change in the requirements of
in-house IT professionals

Prediction of competitors Accept
action is positively
correlated with rate of
change in the requirements of
in-house IT professionals
engaged in implementation

Prediction of competitors Do Not ** Significant
action is positively Accept ** negative
correlated with rate of correlation
change in the requirements of
in-house IT professionals
engaged in operations.

Prediction of consumer test/
product is positively
correlated with rate of
change in the requirements
of in, house IT professionals

Prediction of consumer test/
product is positively
correlated with rate of change
in the requirements of
in-house IT professionals
engaged in implementation

Prediction of consumer test/
product is positively
correlated with rate of
change in the requirements of
in-house IT professionals
engaged in operations.

Frequency of changes in mode
of production/services is
positively correlated with
rate of change in the
requirements of in-house IT
professionals.

Frequency of changes in mode
of production/services is
positively correlated with
rate of change in the
requirements of in-house IT
professionals engaged in
implementation

Frequency of changes in mode Accept
of production/services is
positively correlated with
rate of change in the
requirements of in-house IT
professionals engaged in
operations.

H2: Power distance. uncertainty avoidance, and individualism are
negatively correlated with rate of change in the requirements of
in-house IT professionals (total, implementation. operations).

Power distance is negatively Accept
correlated with rate of
change in the requirements
of in-house IT professionals

Power distance is negatively Accept
correlated with rate of
change in the requirements
of in-house IT professionals
engaged in implementation

Power distance is negatively
correlated with rate of
change in the requirements
of in-house IT professionals
engaged in operations.

Uncertainty avoidance is Accept
negatively correlated with
rate of change in the
requirements of in-house IT
professionals.

Uncertainty avoidance is
negatively correlated with
rate of change in the
requirements of in-house IT
professionals engaged in
implementation

Uncertainty avoidance is
negatively correlated with
rule of change in the
requirements of in-house IT
professionals engaged in
operations

Individualism is negatively
correlated with rate of
change in the requirements
of in-house IT professionals.

Individualism is negatively Accept
correlated with Of change in Accept
the requirements of in-house
IT professionals engaged in
implementation

Individualism is negatively
correlated with rate of
change in the requirements
of in-house IT professionals
engaged in operations.

H3: Masculinity is positively correlated with rate of change in the
requirements of in-house IT professionals (total, implementation,
operation).

Masculinity is positively Accept
correlated with rate of
change in the requirements of
in-house IT professionals.

Masculinity is positively Accept
correlated with rate of
change in the requirements of
in-house IT professionals
engaged in implementation

Masculinity is positively
correlated with rate of
change in the requirements of
in-house IT professionals
engaged in operations.

Note: In all remaining blank cells: Do not accept because
of insignificant statistical results.