Occupational Networking as a Form of Professional Identification: The Case of Highly-Skilled IT Contractors

The impact of virtual networks on economic activity and organizational affairs has long occupied the Information Systems (IS) academic community. Yet what has been paid less attention is the impact of networks on the way contemporary workers perceive themselves at work. Taking into account this gap in the literature, the paper aspires to bring forward issues referring to the implication of virtual networks in the construction of occupational identity of highly-skilled Information Technology (IT) contractors. Drawing upon data from interviews with thirty highly-skilled IT contractors, the paper suggests that the virtual networks among IT contractors and individuals who share the same occupational interests become for the contractors the locus of social interaction, the hub of knowledge generation, the source of occupational control and thus the primary object of professional identification.