Investigating a 21st Century Paradox: As the Demand for Technology Jobs Increases Why Are Fewer Students Majoring in Information Systems?

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a survey administered to 322 undergraduate business students enrolled in an introductory Information Systems course at a public liberal arts college located in the northeast US. The goal of this research was to learn, given the increased demand for technology oriented jobs, why fewer students are choosing the Information Systems (IS) major. The survey results indicate that lack of interest in IS or greater interest in another major are the primary reasons why students do not select IS as their major. Furthermore, even though students are knowledgeable about the career opportunities in the IS field, they simply do not find the IS field interesting enough to major in it.