Gender Differences and Intra-Gender Differences amongst Management Information Systems Students

Few women major in Management Information Systems (MIS). The purpose of this paper is to examine the reasons for women’s underrepresentation in MIS. In addition to examining gender differences, an important and novel goal of this study is to examine intra-gender differences in undergraduate students, i.e., differences among female MIS majors and female students who enrolled in MIS courses as a Business elective (i.e., non-majors). This study found that women\u27s experiences with and self-efficacy regarding computers were much lower than men’s, but that they did not have more negative stereotypes and attitudes toward the field. Overall female students had more positive attitudes towards their MIS courses and instructors than male students did. One of the most interesting findings was the importance of female high school computer teachers and role models for female students. Importantly, there was very strong evidence for intra-gender differences. Female majors had much higher computer self-efficacy, computer experience, had more positive attitudes toward MIS, and were more likely to have had female computer teachers in high school compared to female non-majors. The implications of these findings for MIS are discussed

Early Determinants of Women in the IT Workforce: A Model of Girls’ Career Choices

Purpose – To develop a testable model for girls’ career choices in technology fields based on past research and hypotheses about the future of the information technology (IT) workforce. Design/Methodology/Approach – Review and assimilation of literature from education, psychology, sociology, computer science, IT, and business in a model that identifies factors that can potentially influence a girl’s choice towards or against IT careers. The factors are categorized into social factors (family, peers, and media), structural factors (computer use, teacher/counselor influence, same sex versus coeducational schools), and individual differences. The impact of culture on these various factors is also explored. Findings – The model indicates that parents, particularly fathers, are the key influencers of girls’ choice of IT careers. Teachers and counselors provide little or no career direction. Hypotheses propose that early access to computers may reduce intimidation with technology and that same-sex education may serve to reduce career bias against IT. Research Limitations/Implications – While the model is multidisciplinary, much of research from which it draws is five to eight years old. Patterns of career choices, availability of technology, increased independence of women and girls, offshore/nearshore outsourcings of IT jobs are just some of the factors that may be insufficiently addressed in this study. Practical Implications – A “Recommendations” section provides some practical steps to increase the involvement of girls in IT-related careers and activities at an early age. The article identifies cultural research as a limitation and ways to address this. Originality/value – The paper is an assimilation of literature from diverse fields and provides a testable model for research on gender and IT

A Study Of Gender Differences With Respect To Internet Socialization Of Adolescents

This study investigates the differences between adolescent males and females in the perceived amount of knowledge regarding internet usage provided by various socialization agents (i.e. parents, school, media, and peers).  Further, it examines whether there is a significant difference in the amount of knowledge regarding internet usage provided by various socialization agents within gender.  The study takes a social learning perspective to examine the gender differences

The Role of Gender in Students’ Decisions to Major in Information Systems

In order to understand the reasons for women’s underrepresentation in IS, we extended the IS Major Choice Goals Model, which identifies the major factors that influence students’ pursuit of IS majors and careers. There were significant differences between female and male students in terms of self-efficacy, interests, and choice goals. Significant gender differences were also found in the relationships among the key determinants of the model meaning that females and males differed with respect to how they developed aspirations to major in IS. The relationship between self-efficacy and interest was stronger in females than in males, as well as the relationship between self-efficacy and outcome expectations. Self-efficacy influenced choice goals more strongly for males than it influenced females. The relationship between outcome expectations and interest was stronger in males than in females. Interest influenced choice goals more strongly for female students than it influenced male students

Relationship between Gender and Code Reading Speed in Software Development

Recently, workforce shortage has become a popular issue in information technology (IT). One solution to increasing the workforce supply is to increase the number of female IT professionals. This is because there is gender imbalance in information technology area. To accomplish this, it is important to suppress the influence of biases, such as the belief that men are more suited for careers in science and technology than women, and to increase the choice of careers available to female professionals. To help suppress the influence of gender bias, we analyzed the relationship between gender and code reading speed in the field of software development. Certain source codes require developers to use substantial memory to properly understand them, such as those with many variables that frequently change values. Several studies have indicated that the performance of memory differs in males and females. To test the veracity of this claim, we analyzed the influence of gender on code-reading speed through an experiment. Pursuant to this, we prepared four programs that required varied amounts of memory to properly understand them. Then, we measured the time required by each of the 17 male and 16 female subjects (33 subjects in total) to comprehend the different programs. The results suggest that there is no explicit difference between male and female subjects in this regard, even in the case of programs that require high memory capacities for proper understanding.Comment: Japanese letter version is available at: https://search.ieice.org/bin/summary.php?id=j104-d_5_521&category=D&year=2021&lang=J&abst

The Role of Diversity in Cybersecurity Risk Analysis: An Experimental Plan

Cybersecurity threat and risk analysis (RA) approaches are used to identify and mitigate security risks early-on in the software development life-cycle. Existing approaches automate only parts of the analysis procedure, leaving key decisions in identification, feasibility and risk analysis, and quality assessment to be determined by expert judgement. Therefore, in practice teams of experts manually analyze the system design by holding brainstorming workshops. Such decisions are made in face of uncertainties, leaving room for biased judgement (e.g., preferential treatment of category of experts). Biased decision making during the analysis may result in unequal contribution of expertise, particularly since some diversity dimensions (i.e., gender) are underrepresented in security teams. Beyond the work of risk perception of non-technical threats, no existing work has empirically studied the role of diversity in the risk analysis of technical artefacts. This paper proposes an experimental plan for identifying the key diversity factors in RA