Combating the IS Enrollment Crisis: The Role of Effective Teachers in Introductory IS Courses

Assigning effective teachers to introductory IS courses represents one intervention strategy that has been broadly advocated to help reverse the sharp decline in students majoring in Information Systems (IS). Using a survey of 305 students enrolled in a multiple-section introductory IS course, this study empirically confirms that students who are taught by effective teachers are more likely to be attracted to the IS discipline. Moreover, based on a robust theoretical foundation grounded in Social Cognitive Theory, the findings reveal the underlying mechanisms through which teaching effectiveness influences students\u27 aspirations to pursue an IS degree. Specifically, teaching effectiveness bolsters students\u27 confidence in their ability to successfully perform as IS majors (i.e., self-efficacy), raises students\u27 expectations that valued rewards will be received by majoring in IS (i.e., outcome expectations), and helps students develop enduring interest in the IS field. In addition to teaching effectiveness, students with high self-efficacy and robust outcome expectations become more interested in IS. In turn, interest serves as the primary channel through which goals to choose the IS major develop. Implications for theory and practice are discussed

Addressing the IS Enrollment Crisis: A 12-step Program to Bring about Change through the Introductory IS Course

An enrollment crisis continues to plague the Information Systems (IS) discipline. Although recent studies have begun to offer several potentially profitable strategies to reverse plummeting student enrollments, little evidence has been put forth to document comprehensive intervention initiatives aimed at attracting students in higher education institutions. To this end, this study describes a 12-step program targeted at the introductory IS course at one such institution. Developed based on empirical evidence from the literature, discussions with our IS colleagues, and best practices at other institutions, the 12-step program covers all aspects of the course including faculty assignment, tenor and approaches used in class, and innovative ways to tell the IS story. As a result of implementing the program, enrollments in core upper-division IS courses at the institution doubled. This paper presents a powerful, integrated program that is replicable and can be used by other IS departments to address the enrollment crisis at their institutions

Addressing the Credibility Crisis in IS

A credibility crisis continues to plague the information systems (IS) discipline. For decades IS has struggled to acquire and maintain its stature as a highly-respected academic discipline. The recent demise of several IS programs around the world highlights the credibility crisis, as departments have been subsumed into other business disciplines, or worse yet, abandoned entirely. In a recent MIS Quarterly article, Gill and Bhattacherjee [2009] highlight some of the challenges facing IS: low student enrollments, research that is rarely discussed in our classrooms, and research that fails to make an impact in practice. While useful tactics in terms of research [Dennis et al., 2006], student recruitment [Koch et al., 2010; Looney and Akbulut, 2007] and pedagogy [Firth et al., 2008] have surfaced, a holistic strategy for addressing the credibility crisis has yet to emerge. This article summarizes a panel discussion at the AMCIS 2010 conference, where a group of distinguished IS professors offered their unique perspectives on the challenges, origins, and solutions related to the current credibility crisis in IS

The Credibility Crisis in IS: A Global Stakeholder Perspective

The purpose of this panel involves helping the IS community devise strategies for augmenting the field’s credibility. Representing different continents, educational systems, and roles, our panelists will provide a global perspective on IS credibility. Using stakeholder theory as an organizing framework, this panel will identify the key stakeholders that positively and negatively influence the IS discipline as well as strategies for leveraging these stakeholders. Spirited debates will occur concerning the role of regulators, funding sources, faculty, administrators, students, and employers in shaping the credibility of the IS discipline

The Credibility Crisis in IS: A Global Stakeholder Perspective

The field of information systems (IS) faces a credibility crisis, which threatens its stature as a highly-respected academic discipline (Firth, King, Koch, Looney, Pavlou, and Trauth, 2011; Winter and Butler, 2011; among others). This article summarizes a panel discussion at the ICIS 2011 Conference, where a group of distinguished IS professors offered their unique perspectives on the challenges, origins, and solutions related to the global credibility crisis in IS. Using stakeholder theory as an organizing framework, the panel session identifies the key stakeholders influencing the credibility of the IS discipline, as well as the challenges and opportunities facing IS programs worldwide

Attracting Students to the IS Major: The Role of IT Sophistication in Introductory IS Courses

The Information Systems (IS) discipline is facing an enrollment crisis. Despite the steady decline in IS enrollments, the demand for information technology (IT) professionals continues to increase. Using a survey of 151 students enrolled in introductory IS courses at two universities, this study investigates the role that the level of technological sophistication plays in attracting students to the IS discipline. Grounded in Social Cognitive Theory, the study finds that the degree to which students perceive the IT taught in introductory IS courses as sophisticated affects student aspiration to pursue an IS degree. Specifically, IT sophistication enhances students’ confidence in their ability to successfully perform as an IS major (i.e., self-efficacy) and elevates students’ expectations that valued rewards will be received by majoring in IS (i.e., outcome expectations). In turn, strong self-efficacy and outcome expectations foster student interest in the IS discipline. Interest serves as the primary mechanism through which goals to choose the IS major emerge

Decision Support for Retirement Portfolio Management: Overcoming Myopic Loss Aversion via Technology Design

As firms continue to abandon pensions in favor of employee-managed retirement plans, tremendous demands are being placed on the decision-making proficiency of future retirees. As reflected in the equity premium puzzle, individual investors tend to hold overly conservative portfolios that provide meager payoffs over time. Consequently, there is growing concern that the vast majority of retirement accounts might be insufficiently funded when employees reach retirement. Given that most retirement plans can now be managed online, a potential solution lies in designing a Web-based decision support system (DSS) that helps future retirees make more-profitable portfolio management decisions. This paper reports the results of a study in which 159 retirement plan participants were asked to use an experimental website to manage a portfolio of retirement investments over a simulated 30-year period. Using a psychological approach toward designing the DSS, myopic loss aversion is put forth as a theoretical explanation for the psychological mechanisms that encourage investors to hold overly conservative portfolios. Armed with this knowledge, three design features--information horizon, system restrictiveness, and decisional guidance--are implemented as part of an overarching design strategy targeted at increasing investors' willingness to take calculated risks. The results indicate that investor conservatism diminishes when the DSS presents prospective probabilities and payoffs over long time horizons. In contrast, short-term information horizons constitute a major stumbling block for investors. However, when confronted with short-term information horizons, risk aversion can be successfully counteracted by configuring a DSS to either restrict the frequency of decisions or to suggest a relatively aggressive portfolio allocation. These findings carry important implications for theory and practice.decision support systems, decisional guidance, equity premium puzzle, field experiment, human-computer interaction, information horizon, myopic loss aversion, retirement planning, system restrictiveness

Advice availability and gender differences in risky decision making: A study of online retirement planning

Online retirement planning systems are intended to help individual investors accumulate sufficient savings to support comfortable retirement lifestyles. Although it would seem intuitive that decision makers would choose investment alternatives that provide the highest payoffs over time, individuals tend to construct overly conservative portfolios that yield relatively meager returns. In this study, we explore whether a Web-based decision support system (DSS) that offers advice can enhance decision making by increasing investors\u27 willingness to take calculated risks. Because women tend to be more risk averse when considering financial matters and interact with technologies differently than men, such a DSS might prove especially useful for female investors. A field experiment using retirement plan participants demonstrates that building advice into a DSS helps investors overcome a tendency to hold conservative portfolios. Advice availability and gender interacted such that risk taking is lowest when the DSS fails to provide advice to female decision makers. © 2007 IEEE