How I Became IS: Understanding the Major Decision

For over a decade, the IS discipline has been struggling to increase student enrollment. The enrollment problem isexacerbated by the fact that females/minorities are graduating college in increasing numbers and the IS discipline hashistorically attracted white males. This study assesses the effectiveness of the many enrollment interventions recommendedin the IS literature by reporting on how and why students, who have been exposed to a plethora of enrollment interventionsduring their college career, become IS majors. Addressing the differences between white males and females/minorities, thisstudy provides rich and contextual insight to the IS enrollment literature and finds that IS programs need to emphasize thatstudents do not need a technical background to become IS majors and to promote IS as a second choice for studentsstruggling in degree programs like computer science that do require a technical background. IS programs seeking toimplement enrollment interventions into their curriculum will benefit from this study