An exploratory study on Indian software professionals towards their work commitment and interplay between generation X and Y associates

Abstract

The paper explores the generational diversity inherent in the modern organizations. It examines thegenerational differences between Generation-X (born between 1960-1980) and Generation-Y (born between 1980-2000) professionals working in the software industry. The study attempts to explore whether there aregenerational differences in work commitment between the two age cohorts or it’s only a myth. A total of 250respondents belonging to Software industries were administered a questionnaire. 125 respondentswere typicallyX-Generation and 125 were Y-Generation employees. 50% of the respondents in both the cases were males and50% of the respondents were females. The study examined generational differences for the five types of workcommitment-work involvement, job involvement,work group commitment, organizational commitment andprofessional commitment. Organizational commitment and professional commitment in turn had threecomponents each-affective commitment, continuance commitment and normative commitment. Thus, a total ofnine factors was examined for the study.The data was analyzed usingtwo-tailed t-tests (pooled variancesmethod). The results reveal that the two generations differed significantly only on three of the nine factorsexamined. Thus, thegenerations are more homogenous than heterogeneous in their work values and beliefs. Thisfinding has serious implications for research and practice. It provides the HR managers a useful insight that theobserved differences are attributable to other factors (career and stage of life) instead of being an exclusive andtrue ‘generational divide’.