What Does Independent IT Contract Work Mean for a Company’s Human Capital?

Retention of the highly skilled IT workforce has been more challenging than ever before. Yet, more and more IT professionals are choosing independent contract work. This paper investigates what independent IT contract work means for a company's human capital (HC). We draw from an empirical case study conducted in a financial organisation employing a very large group of independent IT contractors on a mission critical financial compliance project. Grounded in the theory of Social Capital (SC), our research proposes a theoretical model which explains what happens to a company’s HC across different stages of independent IT contracting lifecycle. The model theorises how when depleted, a company’s HC can not only be replenished but also enhanced over time by using SC to ‘pull back’ the enhanced HC of former independent contractors. Based on the proposed model, this research expands the concept of HC to include relational and temporal dimensions. It also highlights the need to consider SC in combination with HC as a new long-term strategy for expanding a valuable company’s HC in organisations employing an independent contract workforce in the fast-changing IT industry.