IDENTIFICATION OF TECHNOLOGICAL GATEKEEPERS IN THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROFESSION

Business organizations have become interested in recognizing gatekeepe rs who may improve business prospects through informal external commun ication. Past research has identified gatekeepers within organizations , but no technique existed for identifying gatekeepers among groups of people working in an industry, profession, or other external group. T his paper develops and tests a simple rule for identifying gatekeepers among members of a profession with a common group of potential interp ersonal communication channels. The rule is used to classify gatekeepe rs among information technology professionals, based on self-reported information dissemination behavior. The rule passes five tests that co mpare the characteristics and information-seeking strategies of indivi duals classified using this rule with other members of the profession. The results of the study confirm that self-reported information disse mination behavior can be used to identify gatekeepers among individual s with diverse information-gathering behaviors, but a common group of potential interpersonal communication channels.