Keywords

cybersecurity career choices, gender differences, career stages

Abstract

The demand for cybersecurity professionals is high—especially for women. Efforts to attract women to cybersecurity careers are not meeting goals of equal representation. Researchers have not yet identified a theoretical rationale for the differences. To provide a theoretical rationale, we investigate barriers to a cybersecurity career based on career stages defined by Super (1957) and gender. Concerns about a cybersecurity career differ between girls, young adult women, and mid-career women. Girls feel an un- awareness of opportunity and requisite training, whereas adult women are concerned that they will be undervalued in a male-dominated field, and mid-career women are concerned about being harassed in a male-dominated field. This paper outlines several suggestions for improving these concerns.

Original Publication Citation

Giboney, J., Anderson, B., Wright, G., Oh, S., Taylor, Q., Warren, M., Johnson, K., 2023 “Barriers to a Cybersecurity Career: Analysis across Career Stage and Gender,” Computers & Security, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cose.2023.103316

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2023

Publisher

Computers & Security

Language

English

College

Marriott School of Business

Department

Information Systems Management

University Standing at Time of Publication

Full Professor

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