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Journal of Education for Business

ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20

Gender Inequities of Self-Efficacy on Task-Specific
Computer Applications in Business
Joyce Shotick & Paul R. Stephens
To cite this article: Joyce Shotick & Paul R. Stephens (2006) Gender Inequities of Self-Efficacy
on Task-Specific Computer Applications in Business, Journal of Education for Business, 81:5,
269-273, DOI: 10.3200/JOEB.81.5.269-273
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.3200/JOEB.81.5.269-273

Published online: 07 Aug 2010.

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Gender Inequities of Self-Efficacy on TaskSpecific Computer Applications in
Business
JOYCE SHOTICK
PAUL R. STEPHENS
BRADLEY UNIVERSITY
PEORIA, ILLINOIS

ABSTRACT. In this article, the authors
investigated the impact of evolving technology on gender disparity and the contradictions found in previous research relating to
the computing gender gap to determine if
certain computer software tasks are genderspecific and if those skills represent a gender gap in technology. Based on the social

cognitive theory and established methodology of self-efficacy reporting, the authors
provide an analysis of gender differences in
computing self-efficacy over a variety of
technological skills needed in today’s business environment.
Copyright © 2006 Heldref Publications

N

ot all students are treated equally.
Research has shown that some
learners have better access to technology and more opportunities to use software than others do (Bryson, Petrina, &
Braundy, 2003; Messineo & DeOllos,
2005; Volman & van Eck, 2001; Young,
2000). These researchers have also
found significant evidence of gender
differences in interest, attitudes, access
to computers, use of computers, and
experiences in the classroom. The gap
between males and females, established
during adolescence, persists through

higher education and beyond. Even
within the information technology profession, gender differences exist. Dattero and Galup (2004) found that
women are more likely than are men to
maintain COBOL legacy systems and
that men were more likely to engage in
Java or C++ language than are women.
The authors concluded that women prefer using existing systems rather than
engineering new ones.
The business workplace has become
dependent on computer usage in every
aspect of its operations. Firms expect
college graduates to have a proficient
level of competence and expertise in
computer technology (Ferguson, 2000).
New hires are assigned projects that
require knowledge of a wide variety of
software applications. Regardless of gender, race, or ethnicity, the business environment assumes that its new employees

are capable of navigating computer technology (Shotick & Lumpkin, 2001). A
persistent gender gap in interest in and

knowledge of computer technology creates inefficiency in the workplace, yet it
is a problem that is avoidable.
Literature Review
Theories from psychology and sociology suggest that gender disparity in
computer competence and use exists
due to sex role typing (Mira, 1987). If
society associates computers with male
characteristics, then women will avoid
information technology. This could
potentially place new female employees
at a disadvantage in the workplace. The
gender schema theory suggests that sex
typing occurs in children as a means of
encoding and organizing information
about their environments (Bem, 1987).
Therefore, supporters of this theory
believe that society has created an association between computers and “maleness” (Agosto, 2004). Under this theory,
until computer use is required of all students at a very early age, men will continue to be more attracted to computer
use than women, thus creating a gender
gap in both experience and knowledge.

For the past fifteen years, there has
been extensive research on gender differences in computer literacy. The literature
seems to appear primarily in information
systems, education, and sociology disciMay/June 2006

269

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plines. The information systems research
on gender differences has been focused
on the use of the technology (Compeau,
Higgins, & Huff, 1999). Education
researchers have been concerned with
how to minimize the gender gap between
differences in computer literacy (Chen,
1986; Sachs & Bellisimo, 1993), whereas the sociology researchers have investigated why the differences exist (Harrison, Rainer, & Hochwarter, 1997; Mira,
1987). All of these aspects of gender differences in computer literacy are critical
to our understanding of how to educate
students in the use and development of

computer technology.
Recently, Harrison et al. (1997) investigated differences in computer usage by
university personnel based on gender.
Using both the gender model of work
and the job model of work to predict
gender differences in computer literacy,
they found that men were less fearful of
computer technology than women.
Thus, educators must first become aware
of the gender differences and possible
biases that they present in the teaching
of computer technology to diminish the
gender gap in computer use.
To continue to examine gender differences as well as incorporate the effects
of changes in technology, Young (2000)
developed a computer attitude survey
that included concepts of Internet usage.
Relying on previous research (Bunderson & Christensen, 1995; Koohang,
1989; Newman, Cooper, & Ruble,
1995; Wilder, Mackie, & Cooper,

1985), Young tested gender differences
in computer attitudes of middle school
and high school students. His findings
were consistent with the results of early
researchers who found significant gender differences in attitudes toward computer technology. Male students were
more confident in their computer literacy than females.
However, because technology has
changed and become less dependent on
programming skills, Sachs and Bellisimo (1993) hypothesized that there
would be no gender difference in attitudes toward computers. In a limited
sample of 32 middle and high school
students, they found no gender difference in computer use for word processing. If word processing, which replaced
secretarial typing, is perceived as a
270

Journal of Education for Business

female-oriented activity, then these
findings support the gender constancy
theory. Whereas Newman et al. (1995)

found that women who were attracted to
female-oriented activities had a more
negative attitude toward computers,
Sachs and Bellisimo differentiated computer skills and found no gender difference in a particular computing activity.
In more recent research, Atan, Azli,
Rahman, and Idrus (2002) found that
there were no gender differences in the
usage of general computer software as
well as networking software. Additionally, Creamer, Burger, and Meszaros
(2004) found no significant differences
between computer use by women and
that by men.
This contradiction of the existence of
a gender gap can be explained by the
type of computer tasks measured. The
scales used in these studies vary widely.
When a scale measures only the most
basic computer skills (e.g., how to turn
on a computer, how to create a folder
using the operating system, typing using

a word processor), the gender gap
appears to have dissipated. However,
when a scale measures more advanced
user skills and varied applications, then
the gap seems to reappear. Volman and
van Eck (2001) noted that gender differences must be analyzed in the context of
different types of computer applications.
Research Question and
Hypothesis Development
As computer technology changes,
students need to expand their computer
knowledge and ability to meet the technology needs of businesses and not-forprofit organizations. Business students
in college today are expected to develop
a sufficient level of computer proficiency so they can quickly adapt to different
computer systems within the business
environment. This requires that they are
confident in their ability to adopt and
use computer technology.
We investigated the gender constancy
theory to explore the impact of evolving

technology on gender disparity. As technology advances to allow computers to
be used for a variety of functions, will
females develop more positive attitudes
toward computers and increase their
computer usage? Previous literature has

focused on general computing self-efficacy. Based on the social cognitive theory and established methodology of
self-efficacy reporting, we will provide
an analysis of gender differences in
computing self-efficacy over a variety
of technological skills needed in today’s
business environment.
We investigated the contradictions
found in the research relating to the
computing gender gap and examined
the various types of computing skills
that are expected of students in order to
perform well in the business environment (Stephens & Shotick, 2002) to
determine if certain computer software
tasks are gender-specific and if those

skills represent a gender gap in technology. The hypothesis that was tested in
this research was:
H1: Male students and female students
have significantly different business computer self-efficacy in regard to the performance of specific business-related computer tasks.

METHOD
The scale used for this research meets
two necessary criteria: It measures user
skills currently needed in business and
explores both basic and advanced skills
in a variety of applications used in the
business world. For this research, we
used the business computer self-efficacy
scale, which we developed (Stephens &
Shotick, 2002). Following the guidelines established by researchers in the
study of self-efficacy, the scale uses a
composite measure of magnitude and
strength (Bandura, 1977). These scales,
which are commonly used in social science research, attempt to determine the
direction (magnitude) and strength of
people’s beliefs (Lodge, 1981). This
form of self-efficacy scale has been
shown to provide the best correlations
with goals and performance in research
(Cassidy & Eachus, 2002; Lee &
Bobko, 1994).
We administered the scale to 137
incoming freshmen at a medium-sized
private midwestern university. We asked
students to assess their ability to perform
a variety of specific computer tasks,
including both basic and advanced skills
(101 specific tasks, are included in the

Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 22:07 12 January 2016

scale). The BCSE is a Likert scale based
on a range of 0 to 5. If students state that
they have no ability to perform a specific task, then the score is zero. If students
state that they can perform the task, then
they are asked to assess their ability to
successfully complete the task on a 1 to
5 scale (1 = very little ability; 5 = very
good ability). This is a standard self-efficacy measure that captures both magnitude and strength. An aggregate score is
created for a student for a specific software application by calculating the average response for all the tasks (basic to
advanced). The business-related technology and software examined by the
scale include those found in Table 1.
Student gender distribution was
almost evenly divided (68 men, 69
women). All of the students except for
one male student indicated that they had
computers (sometimes multiple computers) at home. We asked the students
to state the number of programming
classes that they had taken in high
school or the number of classes that
they had taken that involved using computer technology. Nearly 80% of the
male students indicated that they had
used computer technology in courses in
high school and approximately 55%
indicated that they had taken computer

programming courses. By comparison,
75% of the women had used computer
technology in high school and 46% stated that they had received computer programming training.

Task

WP
SS
PP
Brow
Email
Group
Attach
PDF
FTP
DB
Stat
Zip
ScPic
OCR
PicEd
Exp
WebRe
FulTxt
NewsGr
BulBrd
Chat

Malesa

Femalesb

3.76
3.13
3.05
3.51
3.78
1.56
3.10
1.97
1.50
2.40
2.31
2.12
2.97
2.19
2.47
1.93
3.79
3.21
2.68
2.78
3.47

3.71
2.75
2.66
3.04
3.77
0.89
2.71
1.26
0.90
2.20
1.78
1.48
2.74
1.78
2.26
1.09
3.68
2.93
1.94
2.20
3.36

RESULTS
To test the hypothesis for gender differences on specific software or technological skills, we calculated the average
self-efficacy scores for each task or skill
for all students (see Table 2). Using a
pooled variance t test, we estimated significant gender differences in students’
perceptions of their ability to use a particular software package or technology.
There were 13 specific software or
technology skills in which male students
rated their level of confidence significantly higher than female students.
These were: (a) using spreadsheets; (b)
using PowerPoint; (c) using groupware;
(d) attaching files to e-mail; (e) creating
PDFs; (f) using a Web browser; (g) using
FTP; (h) calculating statistics; (i) zipping files; (j) subscribing to news
groups; (k) using bulletin boards; (l)
conducting file manipulation; and (m)
performing optical character recognition. The similarity of these tasks is that
they are more technical and more math-

TABLE 1. Computer Technology and Software From Which Tasks Were
Developed
Abbreviation

TABLE 2. Male and Female
Students’ Mean Ratings of
Self-Efficacy for Computer
Tasks

Computer technology or software
Word Processing
SpreadSheets
PowerPoint Presentation Software
Web Browser
E-mail
Using Groupware
Attaching Files to E-mail
Using Adobe PDF Maker
Using File Transfer Protocol
Databases
Statistical Analysis Software
Compressing Files
Scanning Pictures
Optical Character Recognition
Photo Editing Software
File Manipulation Software
Conducting Research on the Web
Using Online Full-Text Periodicals
Using Internet NewsGroups
Using Online Bulletin Boards
Using Interactive Online Chat

WP
SS*
PP*
Brow*
Email
Group*
Attach*
PDF*
FTP*
DB
Stat*
Zip*
ScPic
OCR*
PicEd
Exp*
WebRe
FulTxt
NewsGr*
BulBrd*
Chat
a
n = 68. bn = 69.
*p < .05.

ematical in nature than the remaining
tasks. These results support Mira’s
(1987) claim that women are less proficient than men at performing those tasks
that society associates with male characteristics (e.g., technical, mathematical).
Although we found no significant
gender differences among the remaining eight computer tasks, male students
did have higher average levels of confidence in their ability to perform them
than did the female students. These
tasks included: (a) word processing; (b)
using e-mail; (c) working with a database; (d) scanning pictures; (e) conducting research on the Internet; (f)
viewing full-text articles online; (g)
photo editing; and (h) navigating a chat
room. A common theme of these tasks
is that they consist primarily of communication functions. As computer
technology becomes less technical and
more practical in terms of sending and
retrieving information, the gender disparity will dissolve. Shotick and Lumpkin (2001) found that the vast majority
(as high as 90%) of students indicated
that they learned specific computer
May/June 2006

271

applications through personal use.
Communication applications are more
conducive to self-teaching. Therefore,
if most students become more familiar
with applications through personal use,
then more women should gain confidence in their abilities to perform certain computer tasks through greater
personal use of those applications.

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DISCUSSION
H1 was partially supported by the
data. Compared with female students,
male students rated their ability higher
in more than half of the computer tasks.
Male students rated their ability on
nearly 62% of the 21 tasks significantly
higher than did female students. These
computer applications were either more
technical in nature or had limited uses.
If female students use these tasks less
frequently than male students, then they
are likely to rate their self-efficacy for
those specific tasks lower than men do.
A subtler difference between male
and female students is that the types of
computer tasks for which we found no
significant differences were communication forms of computer work (e.g.,
word processing, transmitting e-mail
messages, researching information on
the Internet, scanning and editing photographs). These tasks provide direct
dissemination of information rather
than involve calculating information.
The more technical and complex
computer tasks, such as file transfer
protocol, file management, using
spreadsheets, and computing statistics,
provide an efficient method of calculating or manipulating data. Male students rated their confidence to perform
these tasks significantly higher than
did the female students. This study
offers continued support for the gender
schema theory and the notion that only
when education encourages both male
and female students to engage in technology activities at an early age will
the inequity dissipate.
In the meantime, colleges must strive
to make more of an effort to train female
students to be confident in using computer technology. Because we found
gender differences at the task level,
business technology instructors should
make every effort to stratify their con272

Journal of Education for Business

tent, delivery, assignments, and support
to allow females (if necessary) to get
caught up on the basic technology applications before moving to a more
advanced level (Messineo & DeOllos,
2005). Wasburn (2004) provides 10
strategies for making technology teaching more conducive for female students.
Similarly, Mathis (2002) offers suggestions for institutions of higher education
to improve female students’ computer
self-efficacy. Additionally, business colleges should continue to offer an introductory or remedial course to those students who need additional training to be
at a similar level of competence as their
peers. However, to require an introductory course for all students could create
frustration among those students who
have developed advanced competencies
in computer technologies, or advanced
students might intimidate those who are
not yet at a similar skill level.
Thus, business schools need to design
and administer a survey instrument to
place students in courses with various
levels of computer technology requirements. Because electronic survey
instruments are more available, this
process can be instituted with a minimum of resource expenditures. To prepare all graduates for the technologysavvy business environment, business
schools must continue to provide opportunities for women to enhance their
computer confidence. This will create a
more diverse and technologically-equitable workplace.
The business workplace will continue
to place emphasis on hiring computerliterate employees. Business colleges
must respond to this need of business
employers by preparing their students to
be proficient in computer applications in
business. Because the business environment continues to rely upon efficient
computer systems, business colleges
must continue to advance self-efficacy
of computer skills for all students. To do
so will prepare students to meet the everchanging technology applications. Business deans or administrators cannot
assume that all students enter college
with basic computer technology, nor
should they assume that male and
female students have similar technology
skills. At the same time, business deans
or administrators must be cautious not to

stereotype female students as technologically inferior to male students. However, they may need to provide more
opportunities for female students to
interact with computers and to use applications with which they are unfamiliar.
NOTE
Correspondence concerning this article should
be addressed to Joyce Shotick, Executive Director
of the Center for Student Support Services,
Bradley University, 1501 W. Bradley Avenue,
Bradley University, Peoria, IL 61625.
E-mail: jas@bradley.edu
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