An Examination of Students’ Self-Efficacy Beliefs and Demonstrated Computer Skills

For the past 20 years or more, the issue of computer literacy has been on the forefront of education and employment. Since the evolution of the personal computer, human resource recruiters have identified computer literacy as a viable skill essential for prospective employees. Computer literacy necessitates understanding and knowledge of computer usage with the ability to retrieve, organize, analyze, describe, and present various types of information in an appropriate manner. Research dating back to the early 1990’s conveyed overwhelmingly a lack of computer literacy skills found in college students and graduates. It is important to understand how today’s growing population of students are progressing with technological advances relative to computer applications. By common consent, nearly every job seeker needs basic computer skills and the ability to use such applications as word processors, spreadsheets, database programs and presentation software to function in today’s job market. Thus, this article considers students’ self-efficacy beliefs regarding their level of computer proficiency and their demonstrated knowledge and skills using Microsoft Word, Excel PowerPoint and Access. The study spans a period of 3 years and is conducted at two historically Black institutions located in the southern part of the United States. Data collection includes a survey and graded application assignments from 156 students enrolled in Microcomputer Application courses offered through the College of Business. The findings revealed discrepancies between students’ self-efficacy beliefs regarding their level of computer knowledge and skills and students’ demonstrated abilities using Word, Excel and Access; on the other hand, no discrepancies were reported with PowerPoint.