Second thoughts about a career in IT?

Abstract

At a time of numerous reports of American IT jobs being outsourced overseas, and the immediate employment prospects for many IT graduates uncertain, it remains unclear whether these developments are causing American IT students to reconsider their earlier decision to undertake a career in IT. Addressing this issue, this exploratory study reports the general level of IT career commitment of senior IT students enrolled at a medium-sized State University in the southern United States. In addition, links between the level of a student's IT career commitment and a number of factors are investigated, including knowledge about the IT job market, perceived job uncertainty, IT self-efficacy, attitudes towards IT study, and the type of IT program a student was undertaking.