Att vara på två platser samtidigt - En studie om IT-konsulters upplevelse av organisationstillhörighet

Abstract

As the world becomes more and more digitized, it generates more jobs within the IT-field. To keep evolving, many companies choose to take in external competence which makes IT consultants coveted and attractive on the labour market. Working as a consultant means having a legal employer but also a client company where whom is placed to do the daily work (Gallagher & Parks, 2001). An advantage as a consultant is the possibility to change assignment when desired (Gallagher & Sverke, 2005), however, it also means dual employers and a complexity regarding organizational commitment. The aim of the study is to investigate IT consultants experience of organizational commitment and see which factors may have a bearing on this. The study will have two aspects in mind; the size of the consulting company and the work experience of the consultants, to investigate if there are any observable differences between them. Four questions have been used to answer the purpose that focused on why the respondents chose to work as consultants, which similarities and differences there are in experienced organizational commitment between smaller and larger consultant companies and between junior and senior consultants and their own opinions about organizational commitment. Allen and Meyer’s (1990) three component model has been the theoretical foundation of the study. The three components are: affective, continuance and normative commitment where the first one describes the personal attachment to the organization. Continuance commitment implies investments made in the organizations leading to either profits when staying and loss if leaving. The normative commitment covers the morality of staying in the organization. The study was conducted through qualitative semi-structured interviews with eight IT consultants from three consultancy companies. Half of the respondents employed at a smaller company and the other half at a bigger company. The second distribution was experience with half of which was junior and the other half senior consultants. The data was analyzed using a method similar to a thematic analysis. The result that emerged showed that affective commitment is important for the IT consultants to experience organizational commitment. Relationships to colleagues and managers were of high importance if one felt committed to both the consultant and the client firm. For junior consultants, the presence of a manager or someone who helped them advance their career increased their willingness to stay within the organization. For senior consultants, the opportunity to develop their competence was often highlighted as important. It was easier for the employees at the smaller consultant company to have a good relationship with their colleagues since it is easier to get to know everyone, whereas in the larger the consultants easily became one of many employees. However, many of the IT consultants expressed that the word organizational commitment was something they did not reflect upon.