A collection of biographical narrative interviews with IT specialists working in business service outsourcing centres in Poland

Qualitative research on work experiences in business service centres in Poland from a sociological perspective was conducted as part of the NCN PRELUDIUM-20 research project ‘IT specialists in outsourcing centers for business services in Poland. Sociological study of experience of work’ (UMO-2021/41/N/HS6/00557). The deposited collection of interview transcripts and analytical case summaries was conducted between May 2022 and June 2023. This was the first part of the fieldwork planned as part of the project. The interviews were conducted with 33 IT specialists working remotely or on-site for companies with branches or headquarters in Krakow, Łódź and Warsaw, among other locations. Several pilot interviews were also conducted with employees from companies in Wrocław as part of pilot research. The study used the method of autobiographical narrative interviews in the spirit of Fritz Schütze's school. After each interview, a complementary analytical summary was created with the most important observations and findings regarding the case (person), the conversation and its context. The aim of the study is to comprehensively and holistically examine the meanings of work and the ways in which they are assigned by IT specialists in various subjective and objective contexts, taking into account the specific conditions of the digital transformation of the Polish economy, changes in work organisation and management methods, and biographical experiences. The study covers issues such as professional and educational experiences, career paths, meanings assigned to work and individual identities, the structural and organisational context of work in business service centres, and in particular the situation on the professional labour market for IT specialists, in the industry and in the company, the cultural context of work in enterprises, i.e. organisational culture, managerial ideologies, and employee counter-ideologies.