Information technology staff awareness of the Jesuit educational mission in higher education

At the turn of the 20th century, the Society of Jesus recognized that the paucity of new priests entering the order would have an impact on the institutions of higher education they had founded. To preserve their values and continue their mission in education, the Jesuits undertook considerable efforts to pass forward those values, as expressed in Homines Pro Aliis, Cura Personalis, and Magis. The purpose of this emergent case study was to investigate whether information technology (IT) staff at Jesuit institutions of higher education were aware of and incorporated Jesuit educational values into their day-to-day duties. Through participant interviews, observations, and document collection and review, this qualitative study was an examination of how successfully those values were communicated to IT staff at four Jesuit schools in the northeastern United States. Findings showed IT staff leaders were aware of the Jesuit mission, and staff with more frequent contact with Jesuits had a better understanding of the mission. Lower-ranking IT staff and those with less frequent contact with Jesuits reported less understanding. Results indicated that Jesuit values permeated the organizational culture, and staff members who reported no formal understanding were aware that their organization had different values from those of non-Jesuit institutions.