The impact of emerging practices on IS specialists: perceptions, attitudesand role changes in Hong Kong

The recent literature has addressed many financial and managerial aspects o f downsizing, end-user computing, outsourcing, re-engineering, and CASE-bas ed applications development. In contrast, little is known about how the IS community perceives and is affected by these emerging practices. A recent s tudy examined the perceptions and attitudes of IS specialists in Hong Kong, London and New York City. This article reports on the survey results from Hong Kong, where staff members of IS departments expressed serious concerns about emerging IT management practices as well as their changing roles and responsibilities. Few IS specialists foresaw the rise of systems integrato rs/coordinators or favoured changes away from the traditional IS career pat h. These attitudes were related to perceptions of skill set inadequacy, lim ited training and self-development opportunities, and reluctance to serve a s change agents. Both gender and work experience significantly affected per ceptions as well as attitudes. The implications for both IS and human resou rce management are considered while specific areas for further research are identified. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.