How knowledge becomes a technical object: epistemic practices 
 in information technology

Despite growing demand, the information technology (IT) field suffers from a labor shortage compounded by the underrepresentation of women in the IT field. This study examined predictors of occupational and organizational commitment outcomes among IT professionals and explored gender differences and similarities in the relative importance of predictors. 1,229 IT professionals provided web-based survey data, which were analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling and relative weight analysis. Satisfaction with growth opportunities, job security, job stress, and work–family culture generally were related to commitment outcomes as expected, accounting for the greatest variance in organizational commitment. Relative weights for men and women differed in the prediction of occupational commitment, where growth satisfaction and work–family culture were weighted more strongly by women and job stress was more strongly weighted by men. For organizational commitment, the relative weights among predictors were similar for men and women, except that men weighted job security more strongly than women. Findings suggest that garnering commitment to the IT field requires a gender-specific approach, highlighting growth and work–family support for women and addressing job stress for men. Increasing organizational commitment for both men and women calls for an emphasis on opportunities for growth and development. This is the first study to simultaneously examine predictors for organizational and occupational commitment among IT professionals and to assess the relative importance of predictors discussed in the extant literature. Results inform efforts to increase retention in the IT field and provide guidance for improving the representation of women in IT.

In this chapter we consider the educational needs of the globally diverse information technology (IT) sector and a curriculum that has been developed in order to respond to them. We begin by discussing two human resource (HR) gaps that are affecting the preparation of tomorrow’s IT workforce. The first gap is a participation gap, which is related, in part, to the under representation in recruitment and retention of students with particular demographic profiles in information systems and technology (IS&T) education. The second gap is a knowledge gap, which is related to the globalization of the IT field and the challenges of developing compatible curriculum and pedagogical practices that will prepare students for careers in such a field. We argue that diversity is a lens that can be used to both understand these HR gaps and to develop curricular responses to them. We do this by considering, as a case study, a course developed and taught in the College of Information Sciences and Technology at Pennsylvania State University that is intended to address these gaps. This course—Human Diversity in the Global Information Economy—is offered to exemplify a way of addressing the diversity dimension of the IT skill set.

The publication considers the main features of the formation of the information space of the present day, considers the features of information services and trends in the development of the IT market. The global information technology market is characterized by a high level of competition, which encourages IT companies operating in this market to use all available marketing means in order to withstand the constantly growing competition. In the context of activities in the global information technology market, effective marketing communication activities are of major importance, which is the key to ensuring the competitiveness of an IT company for successful operation in this highly competitive market. It is specified that the IT market is one of the elements of the formation of a modern high-tech market in Ukraine. In a broad sense, IT covers all areas of transfer, storage and perception of information. At this, IT is often associated with computer technology, and this is no coincidence: the advent of computers has brought IT to a new level. Further on, the basis of IT is the technology of processing, storing and perceiving information. The main trends in the development of the IT market have been identified, which include: competence (Ukraine has highly qualified specialists in the field of programming, software testing, data analysis and other related fields); competitiveness (Ukrainian IT companies provide quality services at more reasonable prices compared to developed countries of the West); speed of development (the IT industry in Ukraine is developing rapidly and growing, which makes it possible to be on the way to technological leadership); the presence of a startup ecosystem (Ukraine has an active startup ecosystem that promotes the creation and development of young technology companies); geographical location (Ukraine is in a convenient geographical position for cooperation with Europe and the United States, which makes it easy to enter the world market). It is concluded that one of the key factors for success is to ensure a favorable business climate in Ukraine, which depends on government policy, legislation and infrastructure.

We are now experiencing globalization in virtually all areas of business and economics. Globalized information management has become an important and interesting area in both research and practice. The advances of the Internet and mobile networks have linked the world together and enabled corporations to take advantage of talents and services available around the globe. In view of this, we have organized a special issue of Information Systems Frontiers on this topic. This special issue titled Global IT and IT-Enabled Services is based on a selected set of papers presented in the IEEE Symposium on Advanced Management of Information for Globalized Enterprises (AMIGE’08) held in September 2008 in Tianjin, China. AMIGE’08 is part of the IEEE Congress on Services and is co-organized by China Association of Information Systems (CNAIS). The objective of this special issue is to disseminate recent research results in the interdisciplinary study of globalized information management and to promote new ideas. Globalized information management is multidisciplinary and spans such fields as computer science, industrial engineering, information systems, management science and engineering, and operations management. Research in global IT and IT-enabled services covers a wide spectrum of topics. These include business processes and management in a global setting, such as global workflow technologies and applications, global information system integration and interaction, globalized supply chain management, and global knowledge management. Another area of research is related to the cultural differences occurring in the global business environment, such as global software development, outsourcing and offshoring strategies, IT governance and compliance across national boundaries, and privacy, assurance and trust in a global environment. In addition, there is also research in the area of making use of latest information technologies and service computing to enhance organizations’ competitive advantages in the global business environment. Topics of research in this area include service-oriented enterprises and architectures, service computing and service management, social computing, transformation of enterprise information systems, technology transfer and adoption, and Web 2.0 technologies and applications for globalized organizations. Service is an old concept originated in the commercial world, which indicates an exchange of value from one party to another through some experiences in an area of need that might be related to the sale of a product. In recent years, service orientation has found its way in the field of information technologies, which has to do with how components in a computing system interact with one another. Service orientation advocates the enablement of service-oriented architecture that can sign on and off system components without interrupting existing information services (Zhao et al. 2007). The globalization of economic activities in the world has made service orientation increasM. Chau (*) The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong e-mail: mchau@business.hku.hk

Information Technology (IT) as a field of computing has been in existence since the 1990s. Though it has been with us for a short time, the field has changed how society handles different tasks be it in communication, interactions, and knowledge sharing among others. IT ethics has also been gaining popularity and attracting a lot of attention from researchers to ensure IT has been used for the betterment of our societies. The field of IT is continuously evolving, and new technologies are being developed each day to respond to current and future societal needs. It is therefore important to ensure ethical IT aligns with these as new technologies will introduce a new way of interacting with society, hence needs to ensure it conforms to society’s ethics. This paper reviews how ethical IT has shaped the field of IT, where and how it has been applied to ensure IT products and resources are well used for the well-being of mankind. Since IT is evolving, the paper will also review and project the future of IT, some of its common trends and how ethical IT should evolve to respond to these new developments.

In today’s challenges, efficient business process management is critical to maintaining the competitiveness and stable functioning of IT companies in Ukraine. The relevance of this study is due to the need to identify innovative approaches that help strengthen the resilience of the IT sector in wartime. The paper analyzes how modern management methods help to optimize the activities of companies in unstable conditions, what are the main challenges facing the IT industry, and how government support programs affect its development. The article is aimed at studying the challenges of business process management in IT companies and developing an algorithm for managing business processes in IT companies in times of crisis, which allows to increase their efficiency, adaptability and resilience. The article reviewes the scientific works of Ukrainian and foreign scientists, examines the theoretical base, especially the definition of key concepts: «business process» and «business process management». As a result, the problems of managing business processes in the field of IT in the context of the crisis, in particular in the context of the war in Ukraine, are identified as follows: outflow of personnel, funding restrictions, threat of cyberattacks, market uncertainty, and business relocation. Based on the analysis of scientific literature and interviews with managers of leading Ukrainian IT companies, a general algorithm for managing business processes is formed. The proposed approach will allow IT companies to maintain resilience, increase efficiency and adaptability in an unstable environment. Its implementation will help increase the competitiveness of the Ukrainian IT sector in the domestic and international markets. The study also indicates the role of State support, in particular the mode of «Diia.City», grant programs and digital education, which create favorable conditions for the further development of the IT industry. It is proved that the Ukrainian IT sector demonstrates confident development and sustainability and occupies a leading position in global markets, despite the existing challenges.

Dual coding of knowledge in the human brain.

Introduction Goal of the Research Numerous researchers have indicated that a particular piece of misinformation, the perception of Information Technology (IT) professionals as being geeks and loners, may be one of many explanations for the under-representation of women in Information Technology. In particular, Jepson and Perl (2002) identified a nerdy image of IT people as one of six reasons that girls do not choose IT careers. Hazzan and Levy (2006) identified a geeky and loner image as one of three factors discouraging women from IT careers, positing that women are more likely to be interested in careers involving more interaction with people. Margolis and Fisher (2002) suggested that women are more likely to be affected by the geek stereotype than men are, and thus, when women do not experience an intense obsession with computers, they are more likely to contemplate whether they really belong in the IT field. Eglash (2002) described the geek identity as not only a gender but also a race concern that acts as a gatekeeper and paradox in the participation of science and technology as it potentially hinders diversity. The purpose of this research was to determine if girls in the United States, ages sixteen through eighteen, at the age when they are making university and career choices, do indeed view IT professionals in this negative way. Significance of the Issue The geek/loner issue is important for multiple reasons. The predicted growth of IT jobs in the United States (Hecker, 2005), the shortage of IT professionals (McGee, 2005), and the under-representation of women in the IT field have raised serious concern regarding the US technology workforce in the 21st century (Camp, 1997; Grant, Knight, & Steinbach, 2006; Holzer, 2006; Lazowska, 2002; Sanders, 2005). According to the employment outlook for 2004-2014 by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (Hecker, 2005), and mathematical science occupations are projected to increase 30.7 percent, an additional 967,000 jobs. Of the 30 fastest-growing occupations during this time, six are in computer-related disciplines: network systems and communications analysts, application software engineers, systems software engineers, network and systems administrators, database administrators, and systems analysts. A 2005 study by the Society for Information Management (cited in McGee, 2005) lists critical shortages in IT project management and business domain experts for 2005-2008. McGee (2005) cites two reasons for the shortage of IT professionals. A 10 percent decline from 10 or 15 years ago in the number of students majoring in technology-related degrees has been estimated. Some universities report upwards of a 50 percent decrease in enrollment in these degrees. As baby-boomer professionals begin retiring, an expertise shortage will exacerbate the situation. There has been an 18.5 percent decline in the percentage of women in the IT workforce since 1996 (Information Technology Association of America, 2005). Women composed 32.4 percent of the total IT workforce in 2004. A third of these women are in administrative occupations such as data entry keyer and computer operator. If these administrative occupations are removed from the calculations, women IT professionals and managers fall to 24.9 percent, virtually the same percentage as in 2002. Over the past two decades, the number of young women in the US pursuing careers in Computer and Information Sciences (CIS) has significantly decreased. The National Center of Educational Statistics (2005) reported that in 1984, 32,439 undergraduate students received bachelor's degrees in CIS. Men represented 20,416 of the total (63 percent), while women were 12,023 (37 percent). However, in 2004, 59,488 students received their bachelor's degrees in CIS of which 44,585 (75 percent) were men and 14,903 (25 percent) were women. Thus, the percentage of CIS majors who are female has dropped from 37 percent in 1984 to just 25 percent in 2004. …

The development of modern information-communication technologies has enabled the development of electronic knowledge distribution channels that expand the effective level of general and specialist education. This trend is also present in higher education because higher education institutions and institutes increasingly rely on the use of modern information-communication technologies in their operations. The effects of the use of personal computers, the Internet and global social networks are multiple in the higher education system as well. In the process of acquiring new knowledge, developing creativity, as well as ensuring greater activity in the process of education, new learning technologies, with the use of multimedia systems, created the prerequisites for the engagement of all individual and collective resources. The most important source of the state’s competitive advantage is the ability to educate and retain highly educated personnel in the field of information technologies. From that aspect, the paper discusses information technologies as a scientific discipline and general conditions for education in the field of information technologies. The impact of technical and pedagogical changes on education in this area is analyzed with particular attention. It is known that information technologies are suitable for vocational education, and the modern environment sets specific requirements regarding the applicability of knowledge acquired in higher education institutions. The dynamic and turbulent market emphasizes the applicability of knowledge as a key requirement in the educational process. These short researches propose new educational modules that should structure teaching in the field of information technologies in accordance with the global demand in this sector. Every society strives for a more efficient and economical system of education, and therefore the issue of the use of new information technologies in education comes down to the problem of creating a theoretically ideal model of the use of these technologies at all levels of education and work.

This article characterizes the dynamics of the tax burden of Russian IT-companies as a key factor in their economic sustainability. This study aims to determine regional characteristics of the level of tax burden in the field of information techno­logy in order to identify best practices with the possibility of further replication of successful experience. To achieve this goal, an analysis is carried out of changes in the tax burden in the post-COVID period compared to 2019. Particular attention is paid to the dynamics of the tax burden depending on the scale of enterprises. The results show that the trend of reducing the tax burden in the post-COVID period is not stable for all Russian regions. The low level of tax burden is associated not so much with the industry of activity (in particular, with the field of information technology), but with regional characteristics (the creation of tax preferences in certain territories). Currently, state support for business through tax methods is aimed more at supporting certain regions and not the sphere of IT. The most typical scale of enterprises in the information technology sector, demonstrating a minimal tax burden, assumes revenue from 30 to 120 mln rubles a year. Such scaling of business in this area allows not only to use tax preferences established by the current Russian tax legislation, but also to find resources for organizing effective tax planning.

The paper gives the description of the program of additional education for students in the field of information technology, implemented by the university in collaboration with IT companies. The following prerequisites for the development of such educational programs are noted: trends in the information technology market and the growing demand for qualified specialists. The needs of organizations in competencies of their employee lead to a personalized additional educational program for students developed by the university for the company. The conclusion of agreements between the student, the company and the university allows guaranteeing students - additional scholarships and employment, companies - reducing the adaptation time for new employees due to the availability of relevant competencies and getting to know the company in the learning process, the university - additional funding and developing the competencies of university teachers. An example of such a program implemented by the Lipetsk State Technical University in collaboration with RetailDriver LLC for students educated on Bachelor's programs in IT areas is given.

Despite the high competition for places to study curricula related to information technology (IT) at the higher education level in Estonia, a large number of IT students drop out. Therefore, it is important to explore what influences students to start studying IT and what influences them to persist with their degree program. In this study, data were collected from 301 IT students in Estonia. The students completed a questionnaire at the beginning of their studies and after their first semester. Five factors influencing students' motivation were identified from analysis of these questionnaires. Three of these factors were the same at the beginning of and during studies: previous personal contact with IT, the reputation of the IT field, and development (including self-development and IT field development). A fourth factor related to a desire to continue previous IT studies was found to influence students' motivation only when entering university. A fifth, i.e., learning environment, factor was found to influence motivation only during studies. The outcomes of this study are important for developing new interventions to increase students' interest in IT, their enrollment in IT studies, and their retention.

This research was aimed to study the Information Technology fields that were desired by private companies. The research was divided into two parts. Part 1: The Information Technology fields that were desired by private companies. In this part the researcher had surveyed 75 private companies, which comprised of 43 Thai companies and 32 foreign companies, and had explored 10 Information Technology fields that were need to use in work. Research result showed that the ranking of Information Technology fields in Thai companies group that were the first Software Development, the second IT Management, the third Information Security, and in foreign companies group that were the first Information Security, the second Software Development, the third IT Management. Part 2: The satisfaction of the graduates to the Information Technology curriculum. 136 graduates were used as the samples of the study. Research result showed that the ranking of the satisfaction that were the first Course contents were modern and appropriate to the current situation, the second Graduates got benefit from the curriculum that as expected, the third curriculum was matched with the requirements of the graduates. The results can be useful for revising curriculum in Information Technology for the needs of the industries.

HOW MUCH ICT SECURITY HAS IMPROVED DURING THE LAST DECADE

In the context of the emerging era of smart manufacturing, the concept of sustainability is gaining substantial and widespread attention. Information technology has emerged as a potent tool for manufacturing companies, facilitating their transition toward greener practices and boosting operational efficiency. Additionally, the sustainable development of the industrial and information technology sectors not only presents promising prospects for future progress but is also intricately tied to the achievement of “dual carbon” objectives. Therefore, strategically integrating cutting-edge information technology into graduate education not only enhances the proficiency of postgraduates in the fields of information technology and manufacturing but also facilitates the achievement of green and sustainable development goals. To this end, this paper proposes a novel “Three-Level Advancement” talent development model aimed at cultivating a greater number of highly qualified talents oriented toward green and sustainable development. Built upon a one-semester graduate education framework, the model assesses the effectiveness of the “Three-Level Advancement” training approach. Subsequently, the efficacy of the new talent development model is validated through a class-based comparative analysis. Finally, based on the interview responses of the participants, both teachers and students unanimously affirmed the significant superiority of learning outcomes achieved through this pedagogical reform over traditional teaching methods. The results indicate that this new talent development model not only markedly enhances the quality of practical education but also contributes to the cultivation of sustainable talents in the field of information technology.