Understanding STEM career choices: a systematic mapping

Abstract

STEM disciplines are considered essential for human development, and they are associated with low unemployment rates and good economic prospects. However, many countries are faced with the problem of too few STEM graduates, which raises the question of why more students do not choose STEM majors. This study presents a systematic mapping of studies published prior to 2021 in Web of Science or Scopus in order to examine the research trends on the factors that cause students to choose a career in Computer Science, or more generically, in the STEM fields. These factors have been identified and classified in 3 categories: Environmental factors, Social influencers and Personal factors. The categories are made up of 4 levels of subcategories. We analyzed (1) the countries in which the study was conducted, (2) the characteristics of the study and (3) the frameworks used. The results show that the bulk of the studies were conducted in developed countries, mainly in North America and Europe. The frameworks most commonly used in the studies are Expectancy-Value Theory and Social Cognitive Career Theory, and consequently, the most commonly studied factors for STEM degrees are those related to personal psychological factors. For Computer Science degrees, the most frequently studied factor is career prospects. On the other hand, a small number of studies on the impact of social media on the choice of studies in the technology field were detected. Among the studies analyzed, there is great interest in determining the factors that specifically affect women and the differences between men and women, especially in studies dealing with the Computer Sciences. Furthermore, there are few studies that analyze the effect of informal educational experiences among women. Given that this kind of experiences has become very popular in recent years among women, future research should analyze their impact on the choice of STEM studies. Taking into account the current relevance of the social media, additional research on their impact on the choice of studies should be conducted. It would also be necessary to analyze the situation in underdeveloped countries, especially among women, given that this field is currently a driver of economic development.