Secondary School Business Educators' Perceptions of the Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Needed by Information Systems Majors Relative to Other Business Majors

Introduction As the economy rebounds, it will be clear that the need for greater numbers of highly qualified IT professionals has not disappeared (Brown, 2003). Although the growth rate of jobs in information technology (IT) slowed, there were approximately 3.5 million people directly employed in IT positions in September 2003 (Chabrow, 2003). Skilled IT professionals continued to be one of the most important success factors for organizations that want to stay competitive. The fact that so many people are involved in the IT function shows that demand crosses industry boundaries and is important to management in all industries. With an estimated ninety-two percent of IT workers working for non-IT companies (ITAA, 2002), this demand crosses industry boundaries and is not simply an IT issue alone. Secondary school students considering their careers should note that salaries for IT positions have not declined during the economic downturn, with the median pay remaining slightly above $100,000 in total compensation (McGee, Chabrow, & Hayes, 2003). In addition to pay, IT jobs tend to be professionally satisfying. In fact, 80 percent of IT staff and almost 90 percent of managers reported that they found their jobs to be intellectually challenging, and many studies have found that challenge is a vital component of job satisfaction (McGee, et al., 2003). As optimism about hiring in IT increases, concern over the gap between demand and supply is also apparent (ITAA, 2002). It is clear that the IT profession has a pressing need to attract the best and brightest students into the field. Unfortunately, public perceptions concerning the information technology (IT) profession are inconsistent and unflattering, resulting in the image of a lone, nerdy male scientist with a pocket protector (ITAA, 1998). Ideally, recruitment of students into the IT profession should address these perception problems. And, since many high quality students select a college major while they are in secondary school, efforts should begin before students have chosen a college and career field. Secondary school educators often have a large influence on students' choice of major. Unfortunately, evidence exists that these key professionals have an inaccurate perception of IT as a career (ITAA, 2002). In addition, there is evidence that those adults with little IT training may actually fear it as a career choice for themselves or others (ITAA, 1998). This uninformed perception of IT by secondary school educators may negatively influence the college major advice they give their students. To counteract this, the Image of the Information Technology Professions Task Force encourages school districts to target school career counselors and K-12 teachers and staff in an effort to evaluate and improve the IT image (McGee, 2001). This paper explores how a subset of secondary school teachers, namely tertiary level business teachers, perceives information systems (IS) as compared to other business majors on 14 attributes. Survey results from 248 secondary school business teachers suggests the IS profession is perceived rather negatively as compared to other majors these teachers might be recommending to their students. Purpose Literature suggests that a significant number of secondary school students make career choices during their secondary school years (Graves, Nelson, & Deines, 1993; Nelson & Deines, 1995) and that it is often too late to change a person's career choice by the time he or she finishes secondary school (Abtan, 1993). A Gallup poll indicated that secondary school teachers are second only to parents as the most important influence on secondary school students' career decisions (Dobson & Price, 1991). In addition, secondary school students' views are shaped in large part by the advice and counsel of their secondary school teachers and counselors (Dobson & Price, 1991; Graves et al. …