Career expectations and aspirations of generation Z in Sri Lankan software industry

Abstract

This research comprehensively assessed the Gen Z perception towards career expectation and aspiration factors and its relation to employee engagement in the Sri Lankan software industry. Generation Z (Gen Z), which is said to be the largest generation cohort of all time is currently starting to enter the world of work which is believed to cause “a generation shift in the workplace”. Generation Z will adjoin to the existing generations namely: “Baby Boomers”, “Generation X”, and “Generation Y” in the workplace. With the entrance of Gen Z, these multi-generational work environments will form a rich diversity in organizations yielding more complexities who have different views, expectations, and attitudes on workforce behaviors and factors which motivate employee engagement. This will introduce many challenges to organizations in dealing with “managing multi-generational teams” and “different work expectations across generations”. As very little is empirically known about Gen Z perception towards career perception, from an organizational perspective, it is vital to understand the perceptions and characteristics towards career expectation and aspirations of Gen Z. Having empirical evidence will help organizations to effectively derive generation- specific strategies to keep employees engaged to reap the ultimate benefit from the workforce, and to contribute towards organizations goal. Quantitative research was conducted with a sample of 375 Gen Z undergraduates with work exposure and software professionals who currently employed in a software firm in Sri Lanka. Pearson correlation analysis, linear regression analysis, and descriptive statistics were applied with the use of “Excel” and “SPSS” statistical tools to analyze the data for the present study. Receiving good pay, management support, and being determined to succeed in a career as initial career expectation factors and receiving good pay, achieving upward promotion, opportunities for self-development as longer-term career aspiration factors were found to be positively related and significant to employee engagement of Gen Z.