Performance and strain levels of it workers engaged in rapidly changing environments

Abstract

Technological changes ripple through information technology (IT) development environments. IT professionals must often incorporate these changes into their job or risk obsolescence. This paper looks at the effects of technological change, and focuses on job environment conditions which affect individual performance, health, and well-being by applying person-job fit theory to software developers that have moved to an object-oriented development approach. Heretofore, the literature on person-job fit has viewed its effects statically, disregarding the effects of change. The current research recognizes the dynamics of the IT workplace and investigates the impact of a rapidly changing job environment on individual IT workers by including a comparison of fit at two different points in time. Results indicate that for a change in job environment, individuals whose professional needs match what is supplied by the job fare better in terms of strain and performance. By devoting attention to supplying IT workers who are facing increasing amounts of change with job environment dimensions these workers need, managers are able to direct their efforts toward the job environment dimensions that may improve worker performance and reduce the ill-effects of stress and strain. This, in turn, may have positive effects on overall system development. This study provides insights for managers regarding the pressures felt by software developers moving to a new development environment, and contributes to the person-job fit literature by incorporating a technological change in job environment.