Cherie Noteboom

Anchoring Female Millennial Students in an IT Career Path: The CLASS Anchor Model

Goals and desires are strong incentives for careers and life choices. When goals and desires are not met, change often occurs. Women are leaving the IT profession two times faster than men and often within the first twelve years of employment. Women are also underrepresented in the IT profession with only 25 percent of the current jobs being held by women. This study examines how organizations can retain females in IT professions through motivational anchors. While there are research studies that have investigated the gender gap, there is a need to investigate female millennial students’ relationship to IT through their motivational goals and desires, and how their perceptions fit with anchoring them to an IT career path. This study addresses the demographic influences on millennial female students as they prepare to enter the workforce. Following an analysis of qualitative data, collected in a Midwestern University using surveys, this study examines the perceptions of female students who are seeking an IT career path. The CLASS (Competencies, Life System, Accomplishment, Service, and Security) Anchor model informs how female students’ motivations affect the pursuit of an IT education and career.

An Exploration of Anchoring Female Millennial Students to an IS/IT Career Path: The CLASS Model

There has been much research conducted on the under-representation of women in Science, Technology, and Engineering & Math (STEM). Looking specifically at the area of Information Systems and Information Technology (IS/IT), women are largely under-represented in degree programs and the workforce. With the growth in the IS/IT workforce and the future demands of IS/IT career growth, the importance of understanding the perceptions and influences on the female IS/IT students grows. While there is research investigating the demographics of the IS/IT workforce, the relationship between female students and millennial influences has not been investigated. This research contends that addressing the demographic influences on the large generation entering the workforce will provide advantages to research and practice. Following an analysis of qualitative data, collected in a Midwestern university using surveys, this research explains the perceptions of female millennial students interacting with the IS/IT educational experience and career pursuits. The CLASS (Competencies, Life System, Accomplishments, Service & Security) model which illustrates how female students motivations affect the pursuit of an IS/IT education and career is introduced and discussed. Contributions to research and practice are presented.

Knowledge Activation for Patient Centered Care: Bridging the Health Information Technology Divide

The provision of healthcare is a collaborative process. It follows evidence based treatments which are becoming increasingly data driven and focusing on the best clinical outcomes. Patient centered care requires participation of patients in the decision making of the best treatment options. Healthcare provision requires both evidence based and patient centered care. In practice, these two perspectives conflict with each other due to the use of an information technology designed primarily for billing purposes. Using the knowledge activation framework developed by Qureshi and Keen [25], we analyze data from two hospitals in the Midwest that aim to achieve quality of care outcomes mandated by the Affordable Care Act. Following a grounded theory analysis of the focus group sessions we discover knowledge activation processes that may help overcome the divide between patient and evidence based care.