The Impact of Computer Literacy on Student Academic Performance in the Introductory Management

During the last decade, business school students have seen information technology being integrated into all aspects of their curricula at an ever-accelerating pace. Virtually all business schools now ask that their students meet certain computer literacy requirements before graduation, and these requirements are often part of the prerequisites for students enrolled in advanced courses of their majors, such as accounting, marketing, management science, and of course, information systems. There appears to be a strong belief, shared among the instructional faculty and prospective employers, that a higher level of computer literacy can lead to enhanced student academic performance, increased employment opportunities, and perhaps future success on the job (Jaderstrom, 1995; Tanyel, Mitchell, & McAlum, 1999; Trauth, Farwell, & Lee, 1993; Zhao, Ray, Dye, & David, 1998). Anecdotal evidence also seems to support such conventional wisdom: better computer skills should lead to more productive use of the technology, which in turn should lead to improved academic and job performance. In this study, we examine empirically the correlation between students' level of computer literacy and their performance in an introductory information systems course. The research is seen as a first step in a series of studies designed to explore the predictive validity of the computer literacy requirement.