Gender Differences in Preferred Work Values in Pakistani IT Industry: Insights from Generation Z

Purpose: Information Technology is playing a vital role in supporting struggling economies in the world and the Generation Z has the remarkable potential to make things happen in this context among all known cohorts. More than one third population of Pakistan falls in Generation Z and almost 48% of this pool comprises of females. Increasing trend in Pakistani females perusing higher studies and momentous enrollment of females at degree level implies that a significant chunk of available manpower for IT industry will be female in gender in upcoming years. IT industry has to pay attention to employability preferences of this pool as well in order to attract, attain and retain the best talented resources out of this segment to gain competitive advantage.Design/Methodology/Approach: This study is based upon a sample of IT students, approached through mixed sampling technique and gender-specific comparison is conducted with the help Mann-Whiney U test after ensuring reliability and validity checks.Findings: The results depict gender differences in almost 37% variables considered in this study, hence serve as a strong baseline for practitioners and strategists of IT industry in Pakistan to gain a competitive edge in ever-changing, dynamic business world.Implications/Originality/Value: Although handling of Generation Z representatives is a significant challenge for managers belonging to antecedent generations in current business operations, gender differences are yet another dimension to be explored in detail for competitiveness.