Gender Differences in Computer Attitudes: New Evidence from Korea

This study assessed the demographic characteristics in a sample of officials in a local government in relation to computer attitudes as measured by the Computer Attitude Scale (Loyd and Loyd, 1985). A survey was conducted to study the relationship between gender and the computer attitudes of 248 officials (162 males and 86 females) in Korea. The survey also examined whether or not computer attitudes were affected by other variables such as age, education, and grade. The findings indicated that there were no gender differences in computer attitudes and the other variables were not related to the computer attitudes of Korean officials. Only one variable, computer experience (measured by ‘years using computers’), was strongly related to computer attitudes. However, sub-group analyses showed the relationship was statistically significant in the female group, yet not in the male group. Thus, it was concluded that computer attitudes were not different between male and female officials and computer experience was the most important factor affecting computer attitudes of the female officials. This study is the first sample in which female officials who have more computer experience have been found to be more likely to have positive attitudes toward computers.