Attracting Young IT Professionals: An Empirical Study Using the Theory of Attractive Quality

ABSTRACT

Attracting and recruiting qualified information technology (IT) professionals remains one key issue for executives for numerous years. The so-called war for IT talent illustrates the hard competition of employers for well-educated IT professionals who develop and advance future technologies. Thus, employers are required to court the young professionals' attention to recruit the best of them. Previous research lists certain attractiveness attributes but leaves their interrelations open. We therefore evaluate established attractiveness attributes referring to the Theory of Attractive Quality. To answer the research question? What attracts young IT professionals to an employer?' we conduct an empirical study surveying 223 young IT professionals and evaluate 24 attractiveness attributes that employers should or even need to provide in order to recruit young IT professionals.

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