This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). In recent years, the use of geographically (and often globally) distributed teams to accomplish organizational tasks has become ubiquitous. One arena where the use of such teams is popular is in Information Systems Development. Interestingly, while the motivation for globally distributed systems development is often to harness appropriate human capital, scant attention has been paid toward addressing the human resource issues faced by the IT professionals involved in this context. One particularly challenging human resource issue is that of work-life balance of the IT professionals involved in globally distributed systems development, who routinely experience overlaps and conflicts between their work and personal life domains. In spite of these recognized challenges, we know of no empirical examinations and very few theoretical perspectives informing us about work-life balance issues in this context. Our research program attempts to fill this gap.
Integrating three theoretical perspectives (Border Theory, Social Exchange Theory, and Dialectical Theory), this research seeks to develop a theoretical model for work-life balance in globally distributed systems development settings, and provides a more complete, credible, and theoretically-informed picture of the work-life balance phenomenon as it relates to this context. We utilize a multi-stage multi-method empirical approach involving exploratory interviews and pilot survey, followed by a full-scale survey, and finally in-depth interviews of globally distributed systems development workers within a cross-cultural context.
The research will help demonstrate that workers in distributed/virtual settings face unique challenges. The study will help understand the specific nature of these challenges, both in terms of factors and processes, and also facilitate the development of best practices and programs that organizations can implement beyond the popular family-friendly policies and flexible work arrangements, to help employees manage their work and personal lives. The results will also enable us to understand the effect of work-life balance (or the lack thereof) on worker turnover and organizational commitment, among others, and thereby lead us to discover ways to ensure a steady supply of globally distributed systems development -capable professionals, such that the distributed/virtual form of work in IT and related areas can be sustained over a longer period of time. Finally, through the cross-cultural analysis, we hope to uncover the cultural nuances associated with work-life balance -related issues, and allow us to learn from the best practices in diverse locations. We believe that the knowledge gained from this research will be of interest to the scholarly communities in several disciplines, including information systems, computer supported cooperative work, human resource management, and international business.
