Work Alienation and its Determinants among Knowledge Workers in the Information Technology Firms in Sri Lanka

Udaya Mohan Devadads

Udaya Mohan Devadads University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka

Keywords: Determinants of work alienation, Work alienation, Knowledge workers, IT industry, committed workforce

Abstract

There is a little work done to investigate in alienation of knowledge workers in Sri Lanka. This study seeks for filling this identified lacuna by examining the prevalence and causes for work alienation among knowledge workers in the IT industry, in Sri Lanka. Drawing from the extant literature, researchers identified four primary causes of work alienation; task factors, social support at work, organizational justice factors, and organizational structural factors. The study conducted as a cross-sectional, quantitative survey using a sample of 134 knowledge workers selected from three (03) main IT firms in Sri Lanka. (pls add a sentence showing how representative this selected sample in the industry). Primary data were collected via a standard questionnaire, verified. Data were analyzed using SPSS (Version 26) using Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient, and simple regression. Findings showed that structural factors, social support at work, and task factors are the strongest predictors of work alienation among knowledge workers. Hence, it is recommended for practicing managers to intervene in managing these identified factors that are likely to cause work alienation and take preventive actions to ensure a committed workforce.

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