The globalization of IT work that began modestly with "offshoring" of software maintenance work in the early 1990s has now matured and transformed into a true globalization phenomenon.  Companies of all stripes and sizes now routinely distribute their IT and IT-enabled services work to various countries around the globe, thus gaining access to knowledge and talent pools at cheaper prices. While this globalization of IT work undoubtedly benefited Asian countries and their IT workforces to a large extent, it also raised a number of challenges and issues for all stakeholders. Client and vendor firms and their IT workforces that are distributed globally routinely face problems of collaboration, coordination, control, and knowledge transfer due to the geographical, cultural, language, legal, and time zone distances between them. While research over the last decade has begun shedding light on many of these issues, we have really only begun scratching the surface. Further, critics of the globalization of IT work phenomenon routinely talk about the work-life imbalance and burnout that IT professionals face around the world. While workers in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry in Asian countries may not face hazardous conditions, as recent tragedies there have highlighted, they do face particularly difficult working conditions as they are forced to routinely work long hours due to time zone differences and the need to meet contractual stringent delivery schedules.. It has also been noted that while BPO IT companies around the world perform much of the IT infrastructure management, systems development, and IT-enabled services delivery work, these firms are not really engaged in high-level innovation including new product development in the IT arena. Singapore is an ideal location to discuss many of the challenges and opportunities that emanate from and surround the conference theme. The nation of Singapore is already a major global destination for a variety of IT services work and aspires to become the next "global IT hub" of the world.

 

ACM SIG-MIS CPR 2014 welcomes research and practice submissions that address issues congruent with the conference theme and traditional topics related to the global IT workforce.  These topics include, but are not limited to:

●       Cross-cultural collaboration in global IT work and virtual IT teams

●       Knowledge transfer in global IT work and virtual IT teams

●       Coordination and control in global IT work and virtual IT teams

●       Managing large scale outsourcing arrangements

●       Career development practices of global IT professionals

●       Professional or occupational commitment in global IT workforce

●       Designing large scale outsourcing contracts

●       Motivations of global computer personnel

●       Knowledge, skills, and abilities required to become a global IT worker in the coming decade

●       Role and job profiles of global IT workers

●       Work satisfaction and staff turnover in the global IT workforce

●       Impacts of globalization on the domestic IT workforce

●       Impact of IT consumerization and mobilization on the global IT workforce

●       Roles of culture (organizational, occupational or societal) in global IT work

●       Diversity and cultural issues in the development, attraction, and retention of global IT professionals

●       Increasing IT enrolments, especially regarding gender and minorities

●       IS curriculum issues and trends

●       Ethical and security issues, particularly in global IT work

●       Staffing models in global IT workforce

●       Mainframe skills shortage in the global IT workforce

●       Implications of baby boomer retirement on global IT workforce

 

A special doctoral consortium will take place on the day prior to the conference. This doctoral consortium is targeted at students who are at an early stage of their dissertation proposal-writing, and who are conducting research on a computer personnel research (CPR) topic. The purpose of the consortium is two-fold: 1) provide feedback and guidance to students on their proposal while at a stage where feedback can be considered for future dissertation work and 2) provide mentoring and networking opportunities to students who wish to pursue careers as CPR researchers.  Doctoral students must be nominated to the consortium by a faculty sponsor. Students nominated for the consortium should submit a 10-page research proposal (including all text, figures, and references) to be reviewed by a panel of highly qualified senior faculty mentors.  The 3-5 students selected to participate in the doctoral consortium will receive two rounds of written feedback on their proposal.  In Singapore, each student will have 40-60 minutes to present their research ideas and receive feedback in-person from six-to-eight experienced CPR researchers.  Additional information, including submission deadlines, can be found atwww.sigmis.org/SIGCPR2014/cpr.html.

ACM SIGMIS-CPR 2014 welcomes completed research papers, research-in-progress papers, industry case studies, or proposals for panel discussions or tutorials. All papers must be original, unpublished elsewhere, and in the style of MIS Quarterly.  All submissions will be blind reviewed. 

●       Completed research papers must not exceed 5000 words or 28 double-spaced pages including all text, figures, and tables. The cover page, abstract, keywords, and references are excluded from this page count.

●       Research-in-progress papers must not exceed 2000 words or 14 double-spaced pages including all text, figures, and tables. The cover page, abstract, keywords, and references are excluded from this page count.

●       Panel and tutorial proposals must include the names and affiliations of panelists who have agreed to participate and a 1-2 page summary of the topic, including a description of how the session will be structured.

●       Industry case studies may report specific strategies being employed or under development to address CPR issues and should be no longer than 3500 words.

 

Details on the types of submissions, and the submission and review processes can be found at: www.sigmis.org/SIGCPR2014/cpr.html

 

Website for paper submissions will be announced in upcoming weeks.

                                                

Accepted papers will be published by ACM in the refereed conference proceedings which will be distributed at the conference. Full papers will be published in their entirety. Extended abstracts will be published for panel discussions and research-in-progress papers. All presented papers will be considered for the Magid Igbaria Outstanding Conference Paper of the Year Award. The Magid Igbaria Outstanding Conference Paper and other exemplar papers will be invited for publication in the DATA BASE for Advances in Information Systems – the quarterly journal publication of ACM SIG-MIS.  Proceedings of all previous CPR conferences are available in the ACM Digital Library athttp://portal.acm.org/dl.cfm.

 

Damien Joseph, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (ADJOSEPH@ntu.edu.sg)

Conrad Shayo, Cal State San Bernardino, USA (cshayo@csusb.edu)

Mike Gallivan, Georgia State University, USA (MGallivan@gsu.edu)

Alternate (TBA)