A fully integrated digital world has become a reality, and all segments of society must embrace it in order to be contributing partners to future success in the US. As the use of information technology (IT) has grown, the demand for workers with technical skills has also increased dramatically. Yet the supply of these workers has not kept pace. One reason for this supply-demand disparity is the insufficient number of women and minorities entering engineering and science-related fields. This is disturbing given that these two groups are the fastest growing segment of the US population. Empirical research is needed to investigate why these two important population segments are not active participants in the digital revolution.

This paper submits several research propositions that address this problem. The propositions suggest that personality composition—particularly motivation, self esteem, learning styles, and cognitive thinking—influences a person’s academic performance and the decision to pursue IT education and careers. The technological sophistication of a person’s environment also influences these variables and moderates the relationship between personality composition and IT career choices. Research on this topic has compelling implications and can provide scientific insight into what environmental conditions would stimulate interest in IT-related fields among students in grades K–12