The Group Level Contextual Support of IT Self-Efficacy on Individual's Choice to Major in IT: A Multilevel Examination of the Rising Tide Raises All Boats Axiom

Abstract

This paper examines group-level social support and barrier effects on the individual intent to major in information technology (IT) using the social cognitive career theory (SCCT.) For the purposes of this program, IT majors are broadly inclusive, encompassing computer science, computer engineering, software engineering, and information systems. A multilevel approach allows examination of how self-efficacy within a group of students at a high school impacts the individual intention to major. The sample is more than 300 students from 40 different high schools across a Midwestern state who enrolled in a year-long inquiry-based educational program on IT-related topics including game design, cyber defense, and robotics. The results showed a higher self-efficacy in IT at the high school level had a strong positive impact on individual student choice to major in IT. This holds true even when the student’s individual self-efficacy in IT had no significant impact. Therefore, the axiom that the rising tide raises all boats holds true.