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