Keywords

chatbot, women, STEM, selfconsciousness, experiment

Abstract

The underrepresentation of women in STEM fields, including information systems (IS), is an ongoing issue that warrants our efforts to understand why a gender gap exists in this domain and what can be done to mitigate it. Prior research shows that women often have lower levels of self-efficacy than men regarding information systems tasks, which may explain the discrepancy between genders. In a previous study, we explored the effectiveness of a chatbot programming tutor in building self-efficacy of IS students and found that chatbot usage, which was self-reported, improved self-efficacy for all students but had a greater effect on self-efficacy for women. We conducted a second iteration of our initial study using actual chatbot logs (as opposed to self-reported usage) and confirmed our initial finding that chatbots may be a valuable tool in lessening the gender gap. Furthermore, we explore private self-consciousness as another explanation for the gender gap.

Original Publication Citation

R. Leifer, C. Leavitt, L. Dean, M. Keith, R. Schuetzler, D. Kettles, G. Anderson. (2024) How Can Chatbots Improve the Gender Gap in Information Systems? At the Hawaiian International Conference on Systems Sciences (HICSS).

Document Type

Conference Paper

Publication Date

2024

Publisher

Hawaiian International Conference on Systems Sciences

Language

English

College

Marriott School of Business

Department

Information Systems Management

University Standing at Time of Publication

Full Professor

Download

Share

COinS