Choosing IT as a career: Exploring the role of self-efficacy and perceived importance of IT skills

K. D. Joshi, Lynette Kvasny, Sterling McPherson, Eileen Trauth, Sadan Kulturel-Konak, Jan Mahar

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

26 Scopus citations

Abstract

Understanding the factors which shape students' IT career choices will allow educators to design recruitment and retention strategies to tackle the enrolment challenges. The objective of this research-in-progress is to explore the effects of two such factors, i.e., IT skills Self-efficacy (SE) and IT Skills Importance, on students' attraction to IT careers. A survey methodology was used to achieve the aforementioned objective. Undergraduate students enrolled in IT courses at two large U.S. public universities were surveyed. This study makes a contribution to the field of IT education in multiple ways. First it develops scales for two beliefs which are crucial in capturing students' attraction to IT careers. Second, it provides insights into students' perceptions regarding the importance of various IT skills. Third, it posits a preliminary model which helps in our understanding of how students' personal perceptions regarding the importance of IT skills affect SE beliefs and career intentions.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationICIS 2010 Proceedings - Thirty First International Conference on Information Systems
StatePublished - 2010
Event31st International Conference on Information Systems, ICIS 2010 - Saint Louis, MO, United States
Duration: Dec 12 2010Dec 15 2010

Publication series

NameICIS 2010 Proceedings - Thirty First International Conference on Information Systems

Other

Other31st International Conference on Information Systems, ICIS 2010
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySaint Louis, MO
Period12/12/1012/15/10

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Information Systems

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