A Framework for Understanding Minority Students' Cyber Security Career Interests

Recently, a demand toward IT workforce in a cyber security arena is showing an increasing trend. However, underrepresentation of minority workforce in the IT industry is one of reasons for the scarcity of skilled labors in the information security industry. This paper presents various factors that contribute to students’ motivation and interest in a cyber security career by exploring career choice theories. This paper investigates, based on the social cognitive theory, the factors that affect students’ intrinsic motivation to pursue an information security careers. It further suggests a theoretical framework that explains relationships among students’ cyber security career self-efficacy, barriers and cyber security career interests. Finally, this study proposes a research framework that explains minority students’ cyber security career choices.