Psychological Attributes Needed In The It Domain

2.1 The objectives of the study

– The identification of the complex key factors which characterize IT students;

–The validation of the association of some psychological proofs necessary for the understanding

of the students’ profile.

2.2 Subjects

175 of students of the same technical university with the average age M = 21,99 (S.D. = 1,15) out

of which 109 males and 67 females with no significant difference when it comes to the age average. All

the participants were part of the vocational counseling project 161/2.1/G/135813.

2.3 Instruments

1. Questionnaire of professional orientation for a career in the IT domain (COPSI) buit for

evaluating professional interests wich contains 65 items anchored on a scale from 0 – I don’t agree to 3 –

I totally agree. Seven of the items are calculated in reverse order. The questionnaire contains 3 scales for

the identification of the professional inclination specific to 3 domains with technical applicability:

– executive-industrial (8 items; example of items: I usually strictly observe standard methods and

processes; When I start to work I first aim at being as efficient and as practical as possible - α = .65);

– research and development (10 items; example of items: It is important for me to use statistical

data to generate various forecasts; When I start to work I first aim at being as efficient and as practical

as possible- α = .89).

– IT (13 items out of which the following: I feel more fulfilled when I work with computers than

when I work with people; I consider that I could easily manage the organization’s computer network - α

= .54).

2. Vocational preferences inventory– Holland Self-Directed Search (SDS) made by Holland,

Fritzsche & Powell (1994). The test contains 228 items evaluated on a dichotomous True/False scale and

it organizes the vocational interests in six types forming a hexagonal structure called the RIASEC model.

The latter reflects the preferences of the person for behaviors, contexts, situations, and activities. The

types are the following: 1. Realistic (R), characterizing individuals interested in working outdoors. 2.

Investigative (I) characterizing individuals interested in science (mathematics, physics, social or medical

sciences etc.) 3. Artistic (A) characterizing those who prefer creative expression, especially in literature,

visual and dramatic arts; 4 . Social (S) characterizing individuals who want to help other fellow-beings. 5.

Entrepreneurial (E) characterizing those who prefer to work in leadership or to have persuasive roles

directed towards economic accomplishments; 6. Conventional (C) characterizing those interested in

working in well-structured environments, especially in business. In Romania the test was adapted

normatively to a sample of 1519 subjects by Pitariu, Iliescu & Vercellino (2010).

3. The Big Five personality Questionnaire (BFQ-2) drawn up by Caprara, Barbaranelli &

Borgogni (1993). The test has 156 items on a Lickert-type scale with 5 levels and it offers scores for five

main scales, each having two dimensions: Extraversion (Dynamism and Dominance), Amicability

(Cooperation and Cordiality), Conscientiousness (Thoroughness and Perseverance), Mental Openness

(Openness to culture and experience) and Emotional Stability (Control of impulses and emotions). The

BFQ questionnaire was devised in accordance with theoretical arguments which suggest that the five

factors model has a privileged status, in comparison with other models. We used the combined Romanian

reference points devised by Pitariu, Iliescu & Vercellino (2009). The alpha quotients for the 5 factors

range between .79 and .86, and they are similar to the original values of the test.

2.4 Procedure

All the 175 students completed the SDS and BFQ tests online, in groups of maximum 20 people,

and the results were communicated from the system TestCentral. The time for the completion of the set of

tests was approximately 50 minutes. The test COPSI was a test of a pen and paper type and it was solved

in a separate meeting of maximum 15 minutes.

3.1.Descriptive analysis

The COPSI questionnaire (table no.1) shows the inclination of subjects to the IT domain (M =

20,56; S.D. = 6,41) and to research (M = 22,77; S.D. = 3,99), which suggests the permanent

preoccupation during their study years and post-graduation years, the fact that most of the students will

work in the domain they have trained for. Gender differences highlight that male subjects are more

oriented towards the IT domain than the female ones in the group (t = 2,31; p = .022).

In the case of the SDS inventory, one can notice the high level of investigative preferences (M =

53,20; S.D. = 23,74), followed by entrepreneurial interests from a distance (M = 47,50; S.D. = 26,20).

The result is the expected one for the scientific-technical domain in which people perform activities that

correspond to the interests related to the exploit and to the understanding of complexities and of reflexive

knowledge. Artistic interests are the least favoured (M = 29,32; S.D. = 22,32) in the case of the studied

group. The high scores obtained for investigative interests (within the SDS inventory) and for the IT

domain (the COPSI questionnaire) corroborate those pieces of research which demonstrate that the latter

represent the most important preferential dimension in the case of the subjects interested in the scientific

domain (Lubinski, Benbow-Persson, Shea et al, 2001; Holland, 1997; Dawis, 1991; Allport, Vernon &

Lindzey, 1970;).

The effects of the gender highlight entrepreneurial interests (t = –2,70; p = .007), mostly for female

students, while male students are more oriented towards activities with human implications (social

interests) in comparison with the female students within the group (t = 1,96; p = .058). The result

contradicts our expectations and prior research which found the gender effect associated with traditional

occupational types: male subjects with scientific and investigative interests, female subjects with artistic,

social, and conventional interests (Paessler, 2015; Su, Rounds & Armstrong, 2009). However, the quoted

studies were carried out on large samples of subjects belonging to the general population and not on

specific groups. On the other hand, we keep in mind the malleable nature of interests, the fact that the

latter are sensitive to small and subtle environmental stimuli, and, therefore, modifiable at a certain point

in time. As Cheryan, Siy, Vichayapai et al , (2011) show, males’ and females’ interests measured by

vocational tests can be stable, but when measured by vocational choices they can change in time.

We must remember that this vocational profile is manifest in a group that evinces high amicability,

high tendency for cordiality and cooperation (M = 81,44; S.D. = 19,88), and extraverted structure of the

females in the group (t = –1,88; p = .062); these factors justify their high interest in the entrepreneurial

domain. In addition, we noticed two other traits with high values and supra-averages in the

characterization of the group, namely mental openness (M = 66,12; S.D. = 27,01), and conscientiousness

(M = 71,00; S.D. = 28,10).

3.2.Intercorrelation of variables

The correlational analysis (table no.2) showsconsistent correlations obtained between the variables

analyzed by the 3 questionnaires. Between the BFQ and SDS questionnaires there are 20 significant

correlations out of 30 (r between 15 and 55), which demonstrates the considerable overlap of the two

models represented by the latter (RIASEC and Big Five) and the relatively strong relationship of the latter

in the characterization of personality.

The investigative type is the one which correlates with all the factors in the BFQ questionnaire, and

in terms of personality questionnaire dimensions, most correlations are made by extraversion, amicability,

and openness to experience.

The most powerful relationships were obtained between the variables of the questionnaires COPSI

and SDS (7 significant variables out of a total of 18), between the variables of the COPSI and BFQ

questionnaires (9/15) and between SDS and BFQ (20/30). The most powerful relationships were those

between the entrepreneurial type and extraversion (r = .50; p < 0,01), between the investigative type and

mental openness (r = .42; p < 0,01), as well as between mental openness and inclination towards the

domain of research. Thus, it is suggested that energetic, active individuals are most probably compatible

with activities or occupations which require using verbal abilities to persuade and lead others, while

students who are open to experience will mainly prefer occupations which involve intellectual activities

with the purpose of generating or using knowledge.

A special mention must be made of the realistic type which does not make correlations with any of

the five personality factors and any of the variables in the COPSI questionnaire. The results corroborate

research based on the analysis ofthe relationship between RIASEC and Big Five typologies, according to

which realistic interests are not related to any of the personality dimensions (Barrick, Mount, & Gupta

2003; DeFruyt & Mervielde, 1997; Gottfredson, Jones & Holland, 1993; Costa, McCrae & Holland,

1984). In fact, some studies argue that the subscale of realistic interests is not coherent, homogenous, or

correctly named, as it includes interests for external activities (outdoor) and for mechanical activities,

while, in fact, the two types of activities have very little in common (Valian, 2014).

3.3.The perspective of the factorial analysis

Under the sign of the prefigured interactionist model we resorted to the factorial analysis in the main

components (Hotelling) and the Varimax rotation method (table no. 3).

According to some older statistics (Guadagnoli & Velnicer, 1988), in order to be able to name the

factors we took into consideration the variables with saturations over 60%, which demonstrates that the

factorial solution is stable for a sample larger than 150 people. We obtained 4 factors with proportions of

variance that are reasonable from a statistic point of view (31,72%, 16,25%, 11, 24%, and 7,69%,

respectively). If we examine the composition of the variables within the three factors we will notice that

for factor F1 we obtained high saturations in the case of the interest scales: investigative (thinkers),

artistic (creators), and social (altruists).

The terms between the brackets reflect the types of personality usually associated with each of the

three scales. We can name the factor as one related to nonconformist orientation towards the social

environment. This factor has the highest variance and characterizes individuals to the highest extent. For

factor F2, we observe high saturations in the case of the three factors of personality, amicability,

conscientiousness, and mental openness. Thus, we identify a factor of creativity and social responsibility .

Within F3, inclinations of subjects towards IT, the executive-technical domain, and towards research are

related to high saturations. The factor was named technical and IT interests. In the case of factor F4, the

entrepreneurial and the conventional types are connected with extraversion. Thus, the interest in

leadership and the types with organizational skills belong to the extroverted personality in particular. We

consider this is a factor related to the managerial entrepreneurial orientation.