Vendor and Professional Certification Where is it Headed

Content Provider	Semantic Scholar
Author	Marchewka, Jack T. Liu, Chang Peterson, Charles G.
Copyright Year	2003
Abstract	Trade journals and magazines define three categories of computer certification: "professional, " industry, " and "vendor. " The purpose of this study was to compare Information Systems fIS) professionals' value of professional and vendor certification types in relation to technical and management positions in IS. It appears that IS professionals value both certification types equally when not considering job position. Findings suggest technical and managerial IS professionals value the two types of certifications differently when job position is considered. Future research is warranted to determine why the respondents considered these two certifications differently for both technical (programmers and analysts) and managerial positions. With the emergence of new computer teehnology, certification programs have become pievalent in the Information Technology (IT) profession. There appears to be three major categories of computer certification: professional, industrial, and vendor. Professional certifieation means the confirmation by an organization or profession that a person has the knov/ledge and experienee neeessary to work in that profession (Long and Kishchuk, 1997). An example is the designation of Certified Computer Professional (CCP), awarded by the Institute of Certified Computer Professionals (ICCP). Topics covered in the CCP are: human and oi:g£uii2;ation framework, systems eoneepts, data and information, systems development, technology, and associated disciplines. Renewal of the CCP requires 120 continuing education hours every three years. Such an increase in education increases computer usage (Igbaria, M and Zinatelli, N and Cavaye, A., 1998). The second category is vendor certification. Certifications of technical skills are vendors]]ecific (Filipczak, 1995; MeGrath, 1998). Examples are Novell's CNE, Microsoft's MSCE, and Cisco's CCNA. Some of the topies covered are: technical procedures, administration of the sy stem, and the management of users. Renewal of these eertifications generally is required when INTRODUCTION 73 1 White and Cook: Vendor and Professional Certification Where is it Headed? Published by CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2003 Journal of International Technoloev & Information Manaeement Volume 12. Number 2 a new version of the product comes out. Certificate holders must pass an upgrade exam every two or three years. A third category is industry certification. This is a generic certification for computer trade/technical skills that is sponsored by a not-for-profit organization. Examples are the A+ and i-Net+ certifications &om the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA). These certifications focus on generic skills for hardware/operating systems. No specific vendor is stressed. This category was not considered for this study because it is similar to the technical skills found in vendor certifications. The attitude of clients and employers is the major piece of information that is missing for a rational decision on certification (Long and Kishchuk, 1997). It is the clients who -will increase the demand for evaluation in general, and it is the employers who will decide how much preference they will give to someone with the designation (Long and Kishchuk, 1997). Past literature from industry has focused on the value for vendor certification. However, such literature is primarily opinions. A preliminary study, using 29 respondents from industry, showed vendor certifications were valued strongly for technical positions, and both certifications were valued equally, when a specific job position, such as a technical IT position or a managerial position, was not considered (White, 2002). This limited pilot survey by the authors indicated that there was potential for some interesting findings related to the two types of certifications, since there was no evidence in the literature of any prior empirical research in this area. The purpose of this study is to compare technical and managerial IS professionals' value of these two certification types in relation to technical and management positions. Four questions this paper will answer are: (1) Do IS professionals value each type of certification, professional and vendor, equally when not considering job position? (2) Do IS professionals value all certification types equally when hiring IS managers versus IS technicians (programmers and analysts)? (3) Do IS professionals value each type of certification equally when hiring IS technicians (programmers and analysts)? (4) Do IS professionals value professional and vendor certifications equally when hiring IS managers? The decision to hire an applicant with a certification is generally made by managers with input from the technical staff. For this reason, the technical and managerial professionals surveyed are considered as employers in this paper. 74 2 Journal of International Information Management, Vol. 12 [2003], Iss. 2, Art. 6 http://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/jiim/vol12/iss2/6 Prnfps>:innal Certifirntinn Journal of International Technolosv & Information Management
Starting Page	6
Ending Page	6
Page Count	1
File Format	PDF HTM / HTML
Volume Number	12
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1150&context=jiim
Language	English
Access Restriction	Open
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article