Occupational Commitment of IT Students: A Social Cognitive Career Theory Perspective

摘要

The shortage of IT professionals remains a critical concern today, with fewer IT students entering the workforce compared to IT professionals leaving or retiring. While research has examined factors contributing to the declining of IT enrollments, it is unclear why some IT students choose to go on to an IT career while others eschew IT. To address this gap, this paper examines students' commitment to the IT profession as students'attitudes towards the profession begin to form. We draw on and extend the social cognitive career theory (SCCT) by examining factors that affect IT students' occupational commitment. We tested our model using survey data from a large sample of students majoring in computer science and information systems related fields. Results from structural equations modeling indicated that students with higher interests, self-efficacy, outcome expectations and social support report higher occupational commitment. This study contributes to theory by extending prior research on occupational commitment by providing insights into factors that shape occupational commitment prior to entering the IT workforce.