ICT interest and self-concept as determinants of Swiss adolescents’ vocational choices

Abstract This study examines whether adolescents’ interest and self-concept regarding information and communication technologies (ICT) affect their subsequent career paths through the selection into different vocational education and training (VET) programs. Drawing on Eccles’ situated expectancy value theory and related theories, we argue that ICT interest and self-concept should influence adolescents’ vocational choices, possibly contributing to occupational gender segregation regarding ICT. Using longitudinal data from the TREE2 study (Transitions into Education and Employment) on 1,995 Swiss adolescents transitioning into firm-based VET, we find strongly gendered patterns. ICT interest predicts selection into occupations with greater intensity of basic and advanced ICT use, but this positive association is driven entirely by girls. In contrast, ICT self-concept significantly predicts ICT use intensity in future occupations only among boys. Selection into ICT specialist occupations is associated exclusively with adolescents’ ICT self-concept rather than their ICT interest, questioning whether girls’ lower average ICT interest represents a relevant barrier for entry into ICT specialist occupations in the context of VET. Our findings emphasize that ICT are an important content domain of adolescents’ vocational choices today and highlight how gendered interests and self-concepts towards ICT perpetuate occupational gender segregation.