Investigating information technology skills retention challenges in South Africa’s public sector
Abstract
South Africa’s democracy in 1994 triggered the promotion of socio-economic development in the public sector, with
specific emphasis on improving infrastructure and bridging the information Technology (IT) skills gap. In this paper, the
factors that influence the retention of competent IT resources for the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) are
examined. The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) is the underlying theoretical framework. A case study approach is
employed as a suitable qualitative research design to investigate contemporary occurrences in real-life settings for
exploratory and theory-building research. Empirical insights, regarding excessive power accumulation, lack of
accountability, and skills imbalance, in state enterprises, are provided to manage IT infrastructure, effectively. The
authors assert that reliance on consultants, promotes opportunistic bargaining that could be detrimental to the
government’s strategy to retain skilled IT resources. The results reveal that recruiting and retaining appropriately skilled
IT professionals, would address challenges of information asymmetry in the SITA, and facilitate the building of a strong
professional network to manage the state enterprises’ IT platforms. The analyzed data emanate from the minutes of
meetings, as well as published media sources, and validated by the project’s respondents. One limitation is that the
stakeholders did not disclose all the facts.