This ITWF project explores possible adverse influences of the information technology occupational subculture on students in higher education and possible ways to counteract them. It includes a longitudinal analysis of the occupational culture expectations, sources of information, and perceptions of IT students over time. Models developed from the longitudinal analysis are then tested in a cross sectional study of diverse IT students. Finally, an inoculation intervention is applied and assessed in a set of workshops to ascertain the extent to which students can be prepared for the subculture stresses they might experience during their formative work experiences.
The intellectual merit of this project lies in the strong theoretical and empirically validated research work on occupational cultures and subcultures on which it is based. The research culture clash approach has not been widely applied in the IT paraprofessional experience area and thus this research offers the potential for new understandings that may be particularly important for addressing issues related to the under representation of some populations in the IT pipeline and profession.
The broader impacts of the project lie with the potential for models that can be adapted by institutions to address possibly disruptive effects of the IT subculture within their programs. The tools developed and refined through the inoculation intervention component have the potential to be of significant value to a diverse set of institutions that wish to institute similar practices. Thus, this project expects to promote retention of under-represented women and minority students in IT programs by improving the outcomes and quality of their early paraprofessional experiences.
