The Influence of Gender-Ethnic Intersectionality on Gender Stereotypes about IT Skills and Knowledge

Is this a Gender Issue?

This editorial's purpose is twofold. First, I urge the authors who submit Gender and IT manuscripts to The DATA BASE for Advances in Information Systems to be mindful of the lessons shared in this editorial. My hope is that these lessons from my unpublished manuscript would encourage junior scholars who study Gender and IT to persevere and not become discouraged by multiple rejections. Second, I call on fellow IS scholars to submit opinion pieces to this journal where they share lessons learned from their unpublished manuscripts.

Exploring students’ motivations in choosing to study information systems: is there a gender difference? A survey study in Norway

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the motivations of undergraduate students in choosing to study the information systems (IS) program and explore gender differences in students’ motivations.

Design/methodology/approach

This study examines the results of an online survey of undergraduate IS students at a public university in Norway. An online survey was used to collect the data from undergraduate students who enrolled in an introductory IS course. T-test was used to test the differences between male and female students.

Findings

The results identified that career-related factors such as job availability and job security were the two most prominent factors for both male and female students to choose IS. The results also show that male and female students have essentially similar motivations to choose IS. There were only two significant differences found between female and male students in the perceptions of the importance of factors that influence the decision to choose IS: “personal interest in subject matter” and “ease of study topics.” Male students rated the importance of personal interest and ease of study topics significantly higher than female students.

Originality/value

Despite the fact that Norway is a highly digitalized and gender-equal country, women are still underrepresented in IT-related jobs and higher education studies. Findings from this study will help to understand the motivations of students in choosing IS and gender differences in their motivations in a highly gender-equal and digitalized European country.

Conceptualizing the Marginalized Context in Information Systems Research

The idea of "intersectionality" seeks to capture both the structural and dynamic consequences of the interaction between two or more forms of discrimination or systems of subordination. It specifically addresses the manner in which racism, patriarchy, economic disadvantages and other discriminatory systems contribute to create layers of inequality that structures the relative positions of women and men, races, and other groups. Moreover, it addresses the way that specific acts and policies create burdens that flow along these intersecting axes contributing actively to create a dynamic of disempowerment. (United Nations, 2000)

Do You Still Trust?

Recently, data breaches, especially insider data breaches, have become increasingly common. However, there is a limited amount of research on the factors associated with the decrease in users' trust in response to these events. In this study, social role theory and socioemotional selectivity theory are applied to understand the role of age (younger and older), biological (male and female) and cultural (masculinity and femininity) gender, and the four dimensions of privacy concern-collection, secondary use, unauthorized access, and error-on initial trust and the corresponding decrease in trust associated with the three trust beliefs of ability, benevolence, and integrity. A scenario-based approach is used to focus on a case study of an insider breach. The findings also provide helpful insights into the comparative roles of trust builders (e.g., reputation and design) and trust crashers (e.g., privacy concerns) in the process of trust building and trust decrease in different demographics (e.g., older and younger, males and females) for overall trust and trusting beliefs. Theoretical, managerial, and social implications are discussed.

Gender differences in information and communication technology use & skills: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Even though information and communication technology (ICT) is essential for everyday life and has gained considerable attention in education and other sectors, it also carries individual differences in its use and relevant skills. This systematic review aims to examine the gender differences in ICT use and skills for learning through technology. A comprehensive search of eight journal databases and a specific selection criterion was carried out to exclude articles that match our stated exclusion criteria. We included 42 peer-reviewed empirical publications and conference proceedings published between 2006 and 2020. For a subsample of studies, we performed a small-scale meta-analysis to quantify possible gender differences in ICT use and skills. A random-effects model uncovered a small and positive, yet not significant, effect size in favor of boys (g = 0.17, 95% CI [-0.01, 0.36]). However, this finding needs to be further backed by large-scale meta-analyses, including more study samples and a broader set of ICT use and skills measures. We highlight several concerns that should be addressed and more thoroughly in collaboration with one another to better IT skills and inspire new policies to increase the quality of ICT use. The findings from this review further suggest implications and present existing research challenges and point to future research directions.

Exploring gender discursive struggles about social inclusion in an online gaming community

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to adopt a critical relational dialectics framework to identify and explore gender discursive struggles about social inclusion observed in an online gaming community, in South Africa.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses a technique called contrapuntal analysis to identify and explore competing discourses in over 200 messages on gender struggles about social inclusion posted in the local community’s gamer discussion board, based on seven threads initiated by women gamer activists.

Findings

The findings show how four interrelated gender discursive struggles about social inclusion and social exclusion animated the meanings of online gamer relations: dominance vs equality, stereotyping vs diversity, competitiveness vs cooperativeness and privilege vs empowerment.

Practical implications

Game designers should reinforce more accurate and positive stereotypes to cater for the rapidly growing female gamer segment joining the online gaming market and to develop a less chauvinistic and more diversely representative online gaming community. Enlightened gamers should exercise greater solidarity in fighting for gender equality in online gaming communities.

Originality/value

The critical relational dialectics analysis adopted in this study offers a promising avenue to understand and critique the discursive struggles that arise when online gamers from the different gender groups relate. The findings highlight the unequal discursive power and privilege of many white male gamers when discussing social inclusion. Advancing our understanding of these discursive struggles creates the possibilities for improving social inclusion in online gaming communities.

Making Black Lives Matter in the Information Technology Profession

Despite lucrative career opportunities in information technology (IT), representation of Blacks in IT occupations is abysmal. IT careers are a viable source of economic advancement for Blacks who as a group face significant entry and advancement barriers in the labor market. We argue that the information systems (IS) community can make Black lives matter in IT by advancing their opportunities in this occupational space in an equitable manner. Such advancements require a dialogue within the IS community about the following: What can the IS community do to foster greater inclusion of Blacks in IT profession? To begin this dialogue, a panel of five IS scholars, Drs. K. D. Joshi, Eileen Trauth, Lynette Kvasny, Allison J. Morgan, and Fay Cobb Payton, who participated in the panel organized at SIGMIS CPR 2016 in Washington, D.C. (Trauth et al. 2016b), share their perspectives on making Black lives matter in the information technology profession. An agenda is proposed that calls on IS scholars to conduct research on issues discussed in this paper and appeals to IT practitioners and educators to foster greater inclusion of Blacks in the IT profession.

Black Men in IT

This paper considers issues related to the diversity of the information technology (IT) workforce, inclusive of IT education and the cultural phenomenon that currently exists about Black men's underrepresentation in IT and the degree to which they identify with the IT field within the United States of America. We use autoethnography to examine the insights from the first author's lived experiences and entrance into the IT workforce to identify individual and group themes that exist, relate them to existing literature, and provide evidence of those obstacles being overcome using the Individual Differences Theory of Gender and IT. The purpose of this research is to provide a perspective, through an autoethnographic account, and application of theory that highlight factors that support or undermine the achievement of Black men completing IT degrees and entering the workforce. Methodologically, autoethnography has not been widely adopted within the information systems (IS) discipline but we provide evidence that it is a viable approach for discussing lived experiences utilizing an exemplar and supporting research for evaluating autoethnography. As scholars, even those with no direct affiliation with the impacted group, we have a duty to ensure that we are being as inclusive as possible, understand and appreciate the value of diversity, and are taking an active role in cultivating and empowering our students to enter, and remain, in the IT workforce.

A Research Agenda for Social Inclusion in Information Systems

This research agenda for social inclusion in the information systems (IS) field reflects on its emergence and considers the possibilities and pitfalls for future research. This background information will be useful to students and scholars who are interested in conducting social inclusion research, and to readers who are not conducting social inclusion research themselves but who want to support those who do. The publication of this research agenda is also an opportunity to record institutional knowledge about social inclusion research in the information systems field. The focus is on both information systems and technology developers, and on those who use and are affected by information technology. In view of strong voices emerging that would drown out the message of social inclusion, it is all the more important that members of the IS field strengthen their commitment to this research area. In considering social inclusion work going forward, it is important to remember that this research topic is ultimately action-oriented. To resist the forces that would suppress social inclusion in the IT field and in society, it is more important than ever to situate our work "on the ground" so that the real lives of real people will permeate our research. This orientation has implications for the research methods employed as well as for the actions and interventions that follow.