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Gender Differences In College Students’ Perceptions Of Technology-Related Jobs In Computer Science, Joseph Appianing, Richard Van Eck

Teaching, Leadership & Professional Practice Faculty Publications

Demand for computer technology (CT) professionals continues to rise, yet the supply of related majors is insufficient to meet demand. As with science, engineering, and mathematics (technology’s STEM field siblings), women’s participation in CT fields is abysmally low. While there are many junctures in the “leaky pipeline” for women and STEM careers, college is one of the important pathways to recruit women into CT fields. Wigfield and Eccles’ (2000) expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation provides a valuable framework for examining factors that impact women’s decisions to pursue CT majors, but no validated survey instruments exist for doing so. A questionnaire …