BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//132.216.98.100//NONSGML kigkonsult.se iCalcreator 2.20.4// BEGIN:VEVENT UID:20251121T024506EST-1140SSnZTg@132.216.98.100 DTSTAMP:20251121T074506Z DESCRIPTION:\n\nPedro Seguel Varas\, a doctoral student at 91 Universit y in the Information Systems area will be presenting his thesis defense en titled:\n\nAnalyzing Discourse Dynamics in Labor Markets: Explaining Chang es in IT Occupations\, Skills\, and Technology with Job Vacancy Data\n\nFr iday\, November 21\, 2025\, at 10:00 a.m. \n (The defense will be conducted on Zoom)\n\nStudent Committee Co-chairs: Professor Emmanuelle Vaast\n\nPl ease note that the Defence will be conducted on Zoom\, and only the studen t and the committee members may participate.\n\n\nAbstract\n\nIn the conte mporary landscape of rapid technological evolution\, understanding occupat ional changes and the emergence of new technical skill requirements is a p ivotal concern. To understand how work is changing\, we need to understand how companies structure their work needs. Using discourse to assess how c ollective understandings of work prevail or change\, this dissertation exa mines the dynamics of discourse within labor markets\, utilizing job vacan cy data from 2010 to 2023 as a lens to scrutinize the evolving nature of w ork. Through three interconnected studies\, the thesis examines the symbio tic relationship between organizations and the structure of information te chnology (IT) occupations and skills\, thereby contributing to the cumulat ive tradition in information systems literature regarding IT work.\n\nThe first study takes a novel approach by examining the internal shifts within the changing skill demand and the internal shifts within IT occupations. Introducing the unique concept of “IT Occupational Vision”\, this study in vestigates how employers collectively shape the structure of IT occupation s in response to evolving environments and individual needs. Leveraging lo ngitudinal job description data and text analysis\, it reveals two endurin g profiles that stabilized despite the rapid diversification of skills\, c hallenging prevailing notions of occupational fluidity. This research alig ns with the IS diffusion literature and problematizes stable classificatio ns in IT occupations\, offering nuanced insights into job design challenge s in the digital age.\n\nThe second study examines the evolution of vocabu laries surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) skills. Rather than treati ng skills as static proxies\, it conceptualizes skill vocabularies as infr astructures of legitimacy. Using co-occurrence networks and semantic drift analysis\, the study shows how some skills (e.g.\, “machine learning”) pe rsist as anchors by remaining embedded in dense semantic neighborhoods\, w hile others fade as meanings drift. This dynamic account extends theories of category evolution and legitimation\, explaining how vocabularies thems elves stabilize or erode over time.\n\nThe final theoretical study develop s a framework for the concept of IT Occupational Visions\, extending the O rganizing Vision tradition from technologies to occupations. Taking a soci ocognitive perspective\, it conceptualizes labor markets as socially const ructed knowledge structures shaped by employer discourse. While occupation al identity research has emphasized the employee (supply-side)\, this fram ework highlights the demand-side processes through which firms stabilize a nd redefine IT occupations. The study shows why existing labor classificat ion and occupational identity approaches cannot fully explain the dynamics of occupational change\, and instead draws on diffusion and institutional literatures to theorize how societal norms and organizational fields infl uence employer practices. This framework establishes IT Occupational Visio ns as a new construct for understanding how IT labor markets are continuou sly reshaped.\n\nIn summary\, this dissertation provides insights into the evolving landscape of IT labor\, shared IT Occupational Visions\, and lan guage shifts that are shaping technology adoption within organizations. Th is work emphasizes the socially constructed nature of labor markets from a n employer perspective and provides ways to interrogate its dynamics at sc ale. By elucidating the mechanisms underlying firms' categorization of lab or\, such as IT Occupational Visions or anchoring skill vocabularies\, the thesis advances theoretical\, methodological\, and practical understandin g of how firms categorize and structure IT work. These findings open new d irections for research on labor categories\, technological disruption\, an d organizational adaptation in dynamic market environments.\n DTSTART:20251121T150000Z DTEND:20251121T170000Z SUMMARY:PhD Thesis Defense Presentation: Pedro Seguel Varas URL:/dobson/channels/event/phd-thesis-defense-presenta tion-pedro-seguel-varas-368946 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR