Asia School of Business

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Analytics as a Tool in Major Selection: Exploring Student Reactions

James Edward King, Yi-ren Wang, Graham Hughes Lowman

As the use of predictive analytics is growing in higher education, research is lagging, with research on student perspectives mostly absent. In light of this we drew on theory and practice to posit antecedents that would influence Belief In Analytics (BIA), a measure we introduce to assess the perceptions about the utility of analytics in career-related decisions. We explored BIA’s influence on student desire to have predicative analytic data for college major selection, as well as moderators of that relationship. We found that personality, interests and experience influenced BIA and that BIA influenced the desire to use analytics in major selection. We discuss how Social Cognitive Career Theory, along with research in human resources and technology adoption, and our empirical results support the need to incorporate student perceptions into research on analytics in higher education. Implications for research and practice are discussed.”