IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ecoind/v29y2008i1p96-124.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Choreographing a System: Skill and Employability in Software Work

Author

Listed:
  • Abigail Marks

    (Heriot-Watt University)

  • Dora Scholarios

    (University of Strathclyde)

Abstract

While software developers are typically associated with high-status, technical knowledge work, there is evidence of changing skills requirements within the industry. One notable feature is the increasing importance of social competencies, as well as technical skill, which have been proposed as a feature of many new economy occupations. This article examines how this change in skills in software work impacts on employability in the sector. Developers, managers and HR practitioners in four Scottish software organizations provide the empirical focus.

Suggested Citation

  • Abigail Marks & Dora Scholarios, 2008. "Choreographing a System: Skill and Employability in Software Work," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 29(1), pages 96-124, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecoind:v:29:y:2008:i:1:p:96-124
    DOI: 10.1177/0143831X07085141
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0143831X07085141
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0143831X07085141?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paul Thompson & Chris Warhurst & George Callaghan, 2001. "Ignorant Theory and Knowledgeable Workers: Interrogating the Connections between Knowledge, Skills and Services," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(7), pages 923-942, November.
    2. Steedman, Hilary & Wagner, Karin & Foreman, Jim, 2003. "The impact on firms of ICT skill-supply strategies: an Anglo-German comparison," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 20042, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Jim Foreman & Hilary Steedman & Karin Wagner, 2003. "The Impact on Firms of ICT Skill-Supply Strategies: An Anglo-German Comparison," CEP Discussion Papers dp0575, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    4. Stephen Ackroyd & Stephen Procter, 1998. "British Manufacturing Organization and Workplace Industrial Relations: Some Attributes of the New Flexible Firm," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 36(2), pages 163-183, June.
    5. Groot, Wim & Maassen van den Brink, Henriette, 2000. "Overeducation in the labor market: a meta-analysis," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 149-158, April.
    6. Vladimir López-Bassols, 2002. "ICT Skills and Employment," OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2002/10, OECD Publishing.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Paul Thompson, 2003. "Disconnected Capitalism: Or Why Employers Can't Keep Their Side of the Bargain," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 17(2), pages 359-378, June.
    2. Messer, Dolores & Wolter, Stefan C., 2005. "Are Student Exchange Programs Worth It?," IZA Discussion Papers 1656, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Sandra Nieto & Raúl Ramos, 2013. "Non-Formal Education, Overeducation And Wages," Revista de Economia Aplicada, Universidad de Zaragoza, Departamento de Estructura Economica y Economia Publica, vol. 21(1), pages 5-28, Spring.
    4. Eleni Kalfa & Matloob Piracha, 2017. "Immigrants’ educational mismatch and the penalty of over-education," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(5), pages 462-481, September.
    5. Kampelmann, Stephan & Rycx, François, 2012. "The impact of educational mismatch on firm productivity: Evidence from linked panel data," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 918-931.
    6. Domadenik, Polona & Far?nik, Daša & Pastore, Francesco, 2013. "Horizontal Mismatch in the Labour Market of Graduates: The Role of Signalling," IZA Discussion Papers 7527, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Léné, Alexandre, 2011. "Occupational downgrading and bumping down: The combined effects of education and experience," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 257-269, April.
    8. Kate Mulholland, 2004. "Workplace resistance in an Irish call centre: slammin’, scammin’ smokin’ an’ leavin’," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 18(4), pages 709-724, December.
    9. Lucia Mateos & Ines Murillo & Maria del Mar Salinas, 2014. "Desajuste educativo y competencias cognitivas: efectos sobre los salarios," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 210(3), pages 85-108, September.
    10. Schwientek, Caroline, 2016. "Are immigrants overeducated in Germany? Determinants and wage effects of educational mismatch," FAU Discussion Papers in Economics 07/2016, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute for Economics.
    11. Angelo Siddi, 2002. "L'evoluzione della divisione del lavoro in Italia nellÕepoca della new," Moneta e Credito, Economia civile, vol. 55(220), pages 387-413.
    12. Alain Alcouffe & Jean-Michel Plassard, 2013. "Abondance d'éducation peut -elle nuire ? Une histoire des théories de économiques de la sur-éducation," Working Papers halshs-00827251, HAL.
    13. Matloob Piracha & Massimiliano Tani & Florin Vadean, 2012. "Immigrant over- and under-education: the role of home country labour market experience," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 1(1), pages 1-21, December.
    14. Lídia Farré & Roger Klein & Francis Vella, 2013. "A parametric control function approach to estimating the returns to schooling in the absence of exclusion restrictions: an application to the NLSY," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 111-133, February.
    15. Le Wen & Sholeh A. Maani, 2019. "Job mismatches and career mobility," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(10), pages 1010-1024, February.
    16. L. Cattani & G. Guidetti & G. Pedrini, 2014. "Assessing the incidence and wage effects of overeducation among Italian graduates using a new measure for educational requirements," Working Papers wp939, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    17. Sandra Pérez Rodríguez & Rolf van der Velden & Tim Huijts & Babs Jacobs, 2024. "Identifying literacy and numeracy skill mismatch in OECD countries using the job analysis method," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 76(3), pages 859-876.
    18. Esteves, Luiz Alberto, 2009. "Incompatibilidade Escolaridade-Ocupação e Salários: Evidências de uma Empresa Industrial Brasileira," Revista Brasileira de Economia - RBE, EPGE Brazilian School of Economics and Finance - FGV EPGE (Brazil), vol. 63(2), June.
    19. Devos, Louise & Lippens, Louis & Lens, Dries & Rycx, François & Volral, Mélanie & Baert, Stijn, 2024. "Labour Market Disadvantages of Citizens with a Migration Background in Belgium: A Systematic Review," IZA Discussion Papers 16849, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/9064 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Buchel, Felix, 2002. "The effects of overeducation on productivity in Germany -- the firms' viewpoint," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 263-275, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ecoind:v:29:y:2008:i:1:p:96-124. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ekhist.uu.se/english.htm .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.