Date of Award

12-2024

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Educational Leadership, Research and Technology

First Advisor

Louann Bierlein Palmer, Ed.D.

Second Advisor

Regina Garza Mitchell, Ed.D.

Third Advisor

Victor Henry, Ph.D.

Keywords

Black males, career decision, information technology, IT professional, STEM

Abstract

Historically, the United States (U.S.) has led the world in the development of innovative high-tech solutions that increased employment opportunities, wages, productivity, and the economic growth of our nation. However, STEM workers are in great need to fill the millions of vacancies in the STEM workforce. Despite the increasing demand for STEM professionals, racial minorities, especially Blacks, continue to be disproportionately underrepresented in STEM. In order to adequately address the STEM workforce problem and remain competitive globally, the U.S. must motivate a much larger cross-section of its population to enter STEM fields. Since Blacks are disproportionately underrepresented in STEM, they could be a potential source of STEM workers to address the problem.

The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to understand how the experiences of Black male IT professionals influenced them to pursue careers in STEM fields like IT and how those experiences helped them to overcome barriers as IT professionals. This study was guided by the following research questions: (1) How do contextual background experiences influence Black males to make decisions to become IT professionals? (2) What experiences faced by Black male IT professionals helped them to overcome barriers and to develop the belief (self-efficacy) that they could succeed in a STEM field like IT?

This basic qualitative research study examined the experiences of 11 Black male IT professionals. All participants were male, natural born U.S. citizens, self-identified as Black or African American, and had at least two years of experience in IT. Participants were chosen using snowball sampling where the researcher solicited participants by asking for recommendations from other people in IT. Virtual interviews were used to collect data for this study. Interviews questions were semi-structured open-ended. All data collected were transcribed and coded which made it possible to look across the data and beyond all the information to produce themes and categories.

The study found the career choices of Black male IT professionals were heavily influenced by experiences with family members, educators, their community, and to a limited extent, non-familial personal relationships within their contextual background environment. There were four major themes that emerged from this study regarding how the contextual background experiences influenced Black males to make decisions to become IT professionals, and what helped them overcome barriers and develop the belief that they could succeed in a STEM field like IT. These include: (Theme A) the development of an innate interest in STEM; (Theme B) their career choices were inspired by their environment; (Theme C) the achievement of academic proficiency in STEM; and (Theme D) the ability to overcome threats to their career success. Additionally, 14 sub-themes were revealed providing details about factors that inspired the development of STEM interest and how those factors aided in the successful pursuit of careers in STEM. Numerous recommendations were made to parents, teachers, and policymakers outlining actions that could be taken to help Black males to develop interest in STEM and pursue careers in IT.

Access Setting

Dissertation-Open Access

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