Identifying the Most Effective Factors in Attracting Female Undergraduate Students to Construction Management

Bigelow, Ben F.; Bilbo, David; Mathew, M; Ritter, Lisa; Elliott, Jonathan W.

doi:10.1080/15578771.2014.1002639

Cited by 38 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…This total population sampling was feasible with the support from the UNSW Alumni office which maintains the contact list. For the development of the questionnaire, factors affecting career choices and list of career expectations were adopted from the literature (e.g., Moore 2011; Bigelow et al 2015, Venugopal 2016. The respondents were asked to indicate their perceptions on the subject matter and their overall level of job satisfaction based on a three-or five-point Likert scale (for e.g., 1 = very dissatisfied and 5 = very satisfied).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ericksen and Schultheiss (2009) identified that the five theories applied to women's choice of career in trades and construction in the literature are: (i) Holland's (1997) theory of vocational personality and work environment; (ii) social cognitive career theory (Lent, Brown and Hackett 1994); (iii) Super's (1957) life span development theory; (iv) Gottfredson's (1996) theory of circumscription and compromise; and (v) Krumboltz's (1994) social learning theory. For empirical investigations, it is noted that authors have begun to focus on female students in CM undergraduate degree program (e.g., Koch, Greenan and Newton, 2009;Adogbo, Ibrahim and Ibrahim, 2015;Bigelow et al 2015;Escamilla, Ostadalimakhmalbaf and Bigelow, 2016). Oo, Li and Zhang (2018) claimed that this shift in focus can be partly explained by the reported high proportion of female CM graduates who decided not to enter the industry upon graduation (Bennett, Davidson and Galeand, 1999;Ling and Poh, 2004); and the difficulties in recruitment of young graduates into the construction industry in different countries (Ling and Ho, 2013;Ling, Leow and Lee, 2016).…”

Section: Women's Choice Of Career In Constructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Oo, Li and Zhang (2018) claimed that this shift in focus can be partly explained by the reported high proportion of female CM graduates who decided not to enter the industry upon graduation (Bennett, Davidson and Galeand, 1999;Ling and Poh, 2004); and the difficulties in recruitment of young graduates into the construction industry in different countries (Ling and Ho, 2013;Ling, Leow and Lee, 2016). The other possible explanation is the proposition that if female enrolment in CM programs increased, so would the female participation in the construction industry (Bigelow et al 2015). However, Moore and Gloeckner (2007) pointed out that CM academia are facing two key challenges, these challenges are: (i) to attract female students to CM programs, and (ii) to retain them through graduation and send them out into the industry.…”

Section: Women's Choice Of Career In Constructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They also found that these variables have greatest positive influence, but not educational climate of junior or high schools which was found to be of greatest negative influence. Based on a list of sixteen influencing factors, Bigelow et al (2015) found that the top three factors influencing female students' choice of CM programs are 'internships', 'career opportunities' and 'father in the industry'. Ninety-six percent of their female CM student respondents from universities in the US planned to work in the construction industry upon graduation.…”

Section: Women's Choice Of Career In Constructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Early career women in construction: Are their career expectations being met?

Oo¹,

Lim²,

Feng³

2020

CEB

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The recruitment, retention and development of early career women have always been a challenge in the construction industry. With the focus on early career women or new female construction management degree graduate hires in construction, this study explores: (i) factors influencing their choice of career in construction; (ii) the extent of which their career expectations were met in their first few years of job experience; and (iii) how their met or unmet career expectations are related their overall job satisfaction. Data was collected using an online survey questionnaire. The results show that the top significant factors influencing the respondents’ career choice are career opportunities and belief of getting better pay. Their career expectations, on the other hand, were met or exceeded to a great extent for almost all the measurement items. The results also show that the respondents have a relatively high overall job satisfaction level. Although there is lack of evidence that their overall job satisfaction increased as met career expectations increased, there are statistically significant positive correlations among the career expectation measurement items. These findings have implications for human resource practices of construction employers that aimed to attract early career women into the industry, and to reinforce their met career expectations and job satisfaction.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Women's Choice Of Career In Constructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Women's Choice Of Career In Constructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Women's Choice Of Career In Constructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Early career women in construction: Are their career expectations being met?

Oo¹,

Lim²,

Feng³

2020

CEB

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Results are also similar for related industries such as architecture, for which women make up 24.8%, for engineering technicians which women make up 18.5%, for industrial engineers which are made up of 14.9% of women and for civil engineers which are made up of 10.4% of women. It is outlined that the gender distribution disparity in construction emerges at the initial stages, such as university entry level With an average of only 7.8% of female students choosing to go into construction management and women continue to be underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields (Bigelow et al, 2015). These demographics are pushing companies to look outside of recruiting only men and to consider how they would attract more women into the industry (Clarke and Gribling, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying Barriers to Retaining Female Professionals in Engineering and Construction Organisations

Naismith¹,

Roberston²,

Tookey³

EPiC Series in Education Science

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The construction and engineering industry remains to be one of the most male dominated industries in the world, with between 10 and 25 percent of its employees being female. It is believed that only 62% of women who pursued engineering stayed within the industry. Research suggests that the biggest hurdle the industry needs to overcome is changing the culture within the industry. For engineering and construction organisations gender diversity adds to the opportunity to engage a more diverse range of skills and ideas, with gender diverse organisations being 15% more likely to outperform their respective industry median. It also enables organisations to match the projected more gender diverse client teams and reflect the stakeholders in the communities they serve. The aim of the study is to provide a better understanding of how do we attract and retain female professionals within the construction industry and ensure gender diversity within senior leadership teams. An exploratory qualitative study was conducted with 3 females and 1 male working within the construction and engineering industry. The results suggest that the majority of interviewees joined the construction industry due to the encouragement of a family member and all agreed that having a gender diverse team was important as it creates for more diverse communication with the clients and stakeholders. However the difficult workplace culture and stereo typing still exists particularly around the need to have to work long hours which creates difficulties when trying to balance family and career.

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Why Australian female high school students do not choose construction as a career: A qualitative investigation into value beliefs about the construction industry

Carnemolla

Galea

2021

J of Engineering Edu

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Background: The construction industry remains male dominated, despite the efforts of business and educational institutions to attract women into construction careers. Previous research has examined why female university students study construction management or engineering. To complement this knowledge, there is an opportunity to understand why so many Australian female high school students do not choose to pursue construction-related careers.Purpose: Framed in motivational theory, the purpose of the study was to understand why Australian female high school students do not choose a construction-related career by answering the question: How do the value beliefs of female high school students contribute to a rejection of the construction sector as a career choice? Design/method: Applying a qualitative methodology, we report on semistructured interviews with a sample of 15 Australian female high school students. Interview transcripts were inductively analyzed to reveal themes that were overlaid onto Eccles' expectancy-value theory to deepen our understanding of the values expressed by students when discussing their reasons for not wanting a career in construction. Results: Results revealed five themes: lack of awareness; lack of self-alignment; effect of male domination; sector esteem; and parental, teacher, and curriculum influence. Responses revealed the range of values contributing to the decision not to consider the construction industry. Conclusion:The paper concludes by suggesting that to increase the participation of young women in the Australian construction industry, the sector should respond to the value beliefs held by female high school students. It should transform the perception of construction into one of a profession that is relevant, valuable, and enjoyable for young women.

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Identifying the Most Effective Factors in Attracting Female Undergraduate Students to Construction Management

Cited by 38 publications

References 19 publications

Early career women in construction: Are their career expectations being met?

Early career women in construction: Are their career expectations being met?

Identifying Barriers to Retaining Female Professionals in Engineering and Construction Organisations

Why Australian female high school students do not choose construction as a career: A qualitative investigation into value beliefs about the construction industry

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