2013 International Conference on Information Technology and Applications
Social differences between Information Systems Students and non-Information Systems Students at North West University (Mafikeng Campus) Kenneth Ohei
Sam Lubbe
Department of Information Systems North West UniversityMafikeng, South Africa +2773 661 6614
Department of Information Systems North West University, Mafikeng, South Africa +27183892441
[email protected]
[email protected]
Abstract—This study aims to investigate the social differences between IS and non IS students at NWU, Mafikeng Campus. It explores the knowledge about IS by determining the level of computer knowledge and interaction, and other facts. These items influence students’ choices between taking IS as a field of study. By assumption, students must have acquired computer knowledge and skills as they pursue their career. The problem is that non IS students are not knowledgeable of computer hardware and software and would struggle. A quantitative research approach was used for this study. The findings from this study depicted that factors influencing students choice from not taking or going into IS/IT field of study were related to higher salary and lower level of computer literacy. Students are not informed of an IS career due to the lack of career orientation. The IS department should provide marketing strategies to increase IS career awareness.
ICT. Thus, it is assumed that students must have acquired both computer knowledge (concepts) and computer skills (application) in high school or through personal experiences. The NWU therefore introduced computer courses to assist IS and non IS students to gain computer knowledge to pursue their careers. As an IS student is knowledgeable in computer hardware and software, he/she, therefore can format a computer by loading operating systems (OS), and by disassembling and assembling personal computer (PC) if damaged or crashed due to high voltage of current, without consulting IT experts. But a non IS student would struggle to do that because Law students lack IT skills. For instance, Law students would be anxious about how to conduct IS/IT related investigations, IS forensics, and IS legislation and its implications, IT ethical and related issues. For these reasons, the non IS students’ need to attend a computer course that includes both IS concepts and IT software applications.
Keywords—Career opportunities and choices, Computer proficiency, Education and Computer usage, Ethics and Informatics, IS concepts and IT Applications, Lack of IT skills, Prior Computer Knowledge, Progress of ICT, Web-based services. I.
A. Research Questions The literature review highlights various factors that influence student differences of IS. These factors were formed into research questions.
INTRODUCTION
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The use of Information Technology (IT) is pervasive in society (Topi et al., 2010). According to them, the requirement of the workforce to use technology is increasing. Users of IT are now expected to take personal responsibility for much of what has been handled in the past by a centralised computing services unit. They also emphasised that while many organisations provide some user training in IT, graduates who have an in-depth understanding of the opportunities of IT capabilities can help their organisations to be in a stronger position compared to their competitor without this understanding (Topi et al., 2010). A strong, Information Systems (IS) programme can benefit all students at the university and provide benefits to non-majors who desire competence in IT and its application to their areas of interest (Topi et al., 2010). This study investigates how students from the law discipline differ from IS students concerning the use of 978-1-4799-2876-7/13 $31.00 © 2013 IEEE DOI 10.1109/ITA.2013.48
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What reasons do non-IS students have for not taking IS as a field of study and work? What factors encourage students’ choice in entering the field of IS? What strategies can IS department employ to increase awareness about IS/IT related careers amongst non-IS students?
II.
LITERATURE REVIEW
According to Cloete (2011) some of the challenges identified were: gender, culture, race, maturity, prior exposure, influences and job market conditions. Some other related issues were teaching methods/approaches, text used, understanding of learning methods by students, etc. He further explained that as a result of a literature review, gaps were identified and a proposed solution suggested in the form of a summary with recommendations to further research in this field (Cloete, 2011). Agarwala also stated that, based on other researchers, there is no doubt that some 180
studies have proven that socio-cultural, economic, and political changes do affect the career choices of IS students (Agarwala, 2008) Topi et al. (2010); Scott et al. (2009) all wrote on the Knowledge about IS. IS as a field of academic study began in the 1960s, a few years after the first use of computers for transaction processing and reporting by organisations. They further assert that as organisations completed the use of information processing and communication technology to operational processes, project management, decision support, and enterprise and industry strategy, the academic field also grew in scope and depth. Agarwala, Nielsen and Cloete (2011), highlights diversity and career orientation and opportunities. According to them, the influence of culture and gender on perceptions of IT studies and careers was developed after the investigation into the effects of gender and culture on the perceptions of IT careers. Its aim was to better understand IT as a career and study choice, and determining the factors which lead to students’ social differences (Nielsen, Von Hellens, Greenhill, Halloran, Pringle. 1999 & Cloete, 2011). Authors like Agarwala (2008), Walton et al. (2009), assert that professional self-efficacy by definition refer to how confident an individual is in his/her capability to perform tasks; and it is closely linked to self –confidence. It provides a guide to action, and hence is similar to an attitude, which has a cognitive component (a set of beliefs about the career), an evaluative component (a sense of what would be a good career or a bad career for oneself), and a behavioural component (an action tendency or a predisposition to behave in certain ways). Lubbe and Bapape (2008), Papastergiou (2009) as well as Zainol and Nelson (1982), discussed Computer usage and interaction among students. According to them, computer literacy is the users’ level of comprehending as well as knowledge that they possess concerning the usage and interaction of computers. They believed that if users have little piece of knowledge about computers, it would make it easier for them to be able to further their pursuit of IS as a career. If users are computer literate, they understand which functions of a system, the terms, and abbreviations that they can comprehend and apply when necessary. While Agarwala (2008) describes how individuals relate to others and to society, and represent the degree to which they are emotionally and cognitively attached to a particular network of individuals, Buarki et al. (2011) suggest that there is a need for Technical and Managerial Skills that will help improve students’ ICT skills, and this has become the centre point of the twenty-first century LIS education. Two main social factors have been noted by Thomas and Ahyick (2010) and Cloete (2011) as leading to a student’s decision to major or enrol in IS as a field of work or study. These include higher salary expectations and opportunity for greater work. The social differences, attitudes and
perceptions that students have of IS/IT also influence their choice of a career. Furthermore, in the study, Cloete identified three social differences of IS/IT careers. The stereotypical IT programming says that IS/IT is a career for males and IS profession is only technically oriented (Thomas and Ahyick, 2010; Cloete, 2011). Ethics and Informatics continue to change and grow. Privacy has always been an issue, but now that databases have become more prevalent and data is easily accessible, the issue of protecting people’s privacy is more important (Thomas and Ahyick, 2010). RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
III.
This study deployed the quantitative research approach. A questionnaire was used to acquire primary data and secondary data was drawn mostly from organisational annual reports, company magazines and available literature in the academic field. For the purpose of this study, a questionnaire was used as the data gathering tool in order to determine the social differences between IS and non IS students. The target population was the honours students in Commerce and Administration and Law Faculties. The use of questionnaire usually allows the collection of quantifiable and qualitative data and also allows for the analysis of this data to determine patterns and relationships. The questionnaire was on word document (Oates, 2006). The population size for this study was 222 students of NWU. A sample was derived from that population. It included students pursuing their honours degree in the Faculties of Commerce and Administration and Law. The stratified sample size was 172, consisting of 80 students from the Faculty of Commerce and Administration who were doing their honours degree in 2012 and 92 students from the Law Faculty. The questionnaire was on word document (Oates, 2006) and hard copies were given to the selected honours students of the Faculties of Commerce and Administration and Law for ease of handing out as well as collecting back. The data was summarized on a statistical spread sheet, and the analysis of data was done through the use of Excel. The Department of Statistics at the University was consulted on the statistics used in the study. IV.
DATA AND ANALYSIS
In discussing the successes of IS/ IT, it is essential to take into consideration the age group that constitutes the younger generation, the reason being that they show more interest in IS/IT than other age groups. The older generation age groups are not always interested in IS/IT, one of the reasons may be the fact that they cannot comprehend many things due to their old age or feel pressured or threatened at work when new technologies are introduced or even when they have to use IS/ IT in their daily operations. I.
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TABLE I. COMPOSITION OF SAMPLE
Bank
Populati on
Sample
Distrib uted
Respo nse
Faculty of Commerce and Administration
102
80
80
80
Faculty of Law
120
92
92
92
Total
172
Out of a hundred and seventy two (172) respondents, 8% were aged between 18-20 years; 60% were aged between 21-24 years and 30% were aged between 25 – 30 years. The majority of the respondents were aged between 21 -24 years, meaning that majority of honours students in the NWU (Mafikeng Campus) from the Faculties of Law and Commerce and Administration, indicating the vision of NWU as an institution of young graduates. There is a pronounced gender bias, with a low percentage of women enrolling for IS/IT computer-related courses, worldwide (Alexander, 2011). Some Studies have revealed that social and cultural influences are pertinent for all researches into this gender issue (Alexander, 2011). In this study, there is a low percentage of male as compared to Alexander’s theory were he stated that males predominantly exist in IS career. Out of 172 respondents, 43% were male, and the remaining 57% were female. As no preference was given to sex, the sample breakdown is considered as a fair representation of the demographics of honours students in the Law and Commerce and Administration faculties. This may be due to the fact that this study combined honours students from the Faculties of Law, and Commerce and Administration in determining the difference between IS students and students in other programmes. From the results, 48.8% were female and 51.2% were male. It shows that male respondents are more in the Faculty of Commerce and Administration as compared to the Law Faculty. The aim was to combine students from Commerce and Administration and Law faculties. The result also shows that the dominating title is represented by 55.8% female, 41.9% male and 2.3% represent the least dominating title. This may be as a result of combining honours students in Law and Commerce and Administration faculties. Out of 172 respondents, (15.7%) were between 5-6 years and had more academic years’ experience as compared to 84.3% that had between 3-4 years’ experience. However, the targeted academic year for any student doing honours degree ranges from 3-4 years. Anything outside this could be attributed to lack of adequately qualified students in the course in the NWU, Mafikeng Campus. Out of the 172 respondents, 53.5% are found in the Law Faculty pursuing degree in the LLB; 46.5% come from Commerce and Administration with a B.Com degree. IS students should be able to communicate information, and to produce documents electronically by the use of computers and communication technologies. The IS/IT skills involve using office applications such as word, Excel and others (Buarki et al., 2011).
Figure. 1 COMPUTER LITERACY
In determining the level of computer literacy, out of 172 respondents, the result revealed that 7.0% were very good, 25.0% were good, and 32.6% were fair. Some of the respondents (57.6%) indicated that they had prior computer exposure and these results were expected to get better as the candidates pursue post graduates work in the Law and Commerce faculties because they should have acquired some kind of knowledge on IS. In addition to this study, the statistics agree with Buarki et al. (2011) that IS/IT has attracted IS and non IS students due to its role and importance in institutions. V.
DISCUSSION OF THE RESULT
In revealing the factors that encourage students to enter into IS/IT related courses, reference was made to Cloete (2011) Two-Factor Theory of Intrinsic and Extrinsic factors. The factors that influence career choice, as described by him, include: salary, job security and working conditions (extrinsic); potential for achievement, career growth, recognition and the job itself (intrinsic). Most students enrol in IS programmes because of the benefit they presume that the programme will offer them after completion. In reference to the findings from the analysis, majority of the students agree and do think that IS course is a type of course which leads to a higher salary when employed, confirming Cloete’s Two-Factor Theory of Intrinsic and Extrinsic factors. Of the total of 172 respondents, 25 (14.5%) strongly agreed, 92 (53.5%) agreed and 49 (28.5%) disagreed, were 6 (3.5) strongly disagreed. This means that higher salary influences students’ choices in pursuing IS course. In talking about the level of computer literacy, Lubbe and Bopape (2008), agree that computer literacy is defined as the users’ level of understanding as well as knowledge that they have concerning the use of computers. They stated that if users had some knowledge about computers, it would make it easier for them to be able to go further with their pursuit of IS career. If users were computer literate, they would understand which functions of a system, the terms,
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and abbreviations could help to comprehend and apply when necessary. In this study, the respondents had advanced knowledge of computers and could respond positively to computer interaction. Out of the 172 respondents that were asked about prior knowledge of computer, 152 (88.4%) responded positively (that is, they had prior knowledge). Findings from the analysis had indicated that 74.4% of the respondents agreed that students had heard of IS/IT courses and were aware that NWU offered computer literacy classes, but were not informed about IS/IT as the top career field any one would desire to be in. It is very essential that Mafikeng Campus introduce or implement marketing strategies and policies to help improve the level of IS/IT career through suitable career development programmes. The results have shown that marketing would influence students’ choice in taking IS/IT as a major. In conclusion, many of the positive and negative factors influencing students in not taking or going into IS/IT field of study include factors related to higher salary, career growth and recognition. Career orientation, marketing strategies not only from the university as a whole but also directed to IS faculty members to be involved in the development of IS students by providing training and career awareness are also needed. VI.
higher salary when employed, which confirms Cloete’s Two-Factor Theory of Intrinsic and Extrinsic factors. In determining the factors that encourage students’ choice to enter IS field, out of a total of 172 respondent’s, 25 (14.5%) strongly agreed, 92 (53.5%) agreed and 49 (28.5%) disagreed. This means that higher salary influences students’ choices in IS course. It is also established that some of the factors that encourage students choice to enter into IS/IT include easy to the programmes and students’ prior computer knowledge which confirms Lubbe and Bopape’s study (2011). In this study, the respondents had advanced knowledge of computers and they could respond positively to computer interaction. Out of 172 respondents that were asked “Have you used computer before”, 152 (88.4%) respondents responded that they were computer literate. C. What Strategies can IS Department employ to increase awareness about IS/IT related careers amongst non IS Students? The majority of respondents (74.4%) concurred that students had heard of IS/IT courses and were aware that NWU offered computer literacy classes. Only 25.6% stated otherwise. The response showed that it is very essential that Mafikeng Campus introduce or implement marketing strategies and policies. The findings seem to prove that marketing would influence or help improve the level of IS/IT career through suitable career development programmes. The finding also demonstrates that marketing could influence students’ choice in taking IS/IT as a major. From the four sets of questions that were asked in this section, the majority of students ranging from (98.8%) agreed to question 1 where students were asked, “Have you heard about the course called IS / IT”. In question 2, 87.8% agreed, when asked if they were aware that North West University Mafikeng Campus offered computer literacy classes. But question 3 reflected that 57.6% of students disagreed, while 90.7% agreed to question 4, to 5 with 74.4%. The remaining responses were in the minority. The results suggest that strategies should be implemented to foster awareness of IS/IT career as a field of study.
ANSWER TO THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
A. What reasons do non IS Students have for not taking IS as a field of study and work? From the findings, the majority of students agreed (59.3%) that they would choose IS as a field of study, 40.7% stated otherwise. Another question was asked to determine whether respondents, would say that IS/IT programme is a difficult course for one to be enrolled in. The responses, “agree and strongly agree” are merged to represent affirmative and the response while “disagree” and “strongly disagree” constitute negative response. The result indicated that 94 (54.7%) agreed and 78 (45.3%) disagreed. This shown that majority of students agreed that IS/IT is a difficult programme. This is one of the main reasons why non IS students have not been taking IS as a field of study and also the fact that IS/IT is gender dominated. Out of the 172 respondents, 14 (8.1%) strongly agree, 60 (34.9%) agree; and 57 (33.1%) disagree. The also indicated that 56.9% of the respondents concurred that IS is gender (female) dominated. Although IS is a male dominated field according to Cloete (2011) theory, in this study, only (56.9%) indicated that IS is female dominated. This could also be as the result of combining both faculties in the NWU, Mafikeng Campus.
VII. CONCLUSION The study focused on investigating the social differences between IS and non IS students in the NWU. The investigation highlighted the importance of students’ involvement with computer usage and interaction. However, it is expected that students must have acquired both computer knowledge (concepts) and computer skills (application) from high school or through personal experiences before being admitted into NWU Campus. This assists candidates to pursue their careers successfully. The study also looked at knowledge of IS in its entirely to develop strategies to be employed to increase career awareness of IS/IT courses related to the campus, as well as factors that encourage or reasons non IS students have for not pursuing IS/IT as a career field of study. The North-
B. What Factors Encourage Students’ Choice in entering the field of IS? Referring to the results, majority of the students agreed that IS course is a type of course that helps one to get a
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West University (Mafikeng Campus) as an institution of higher learning should put more emphasis on orientation development programmes to assist the upcoming candidates to be able to make right choices or decisions regarding IS/IT courses. It can be concluded that respondents agreed that they were not informed about IS/IT course. In South Africa, IS/IT is one of the top fields of career any one would desire to major in. The respondents agreed that it is very crucial that Mafikeng Campus introduces or implements marketing strategies and policies to influence and improve the level of awareness of IS/IT career through the use of suitable career development programmes.
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