Purpose -The goals of this study were to examine the utility of social cognitive career theory in a South Asian context, extend SCCT beyond its individualistic roots to include social and contextual variables, and explore the possible differential validity of SCCT predictors for men and women. Design/methodology/approach -The study involved an in-class survey of Bangladeshi undergraduate engineering students including 209 women and 640 men. Findings -Despite stronger relationships between persistence and two predictors -social aspirations and self-efficacy -for men, self-efficacy, the core construct of SCCT, was the most important predictor of persistence for both women and men thus supporting the applicability of SCCT in non-Western contexts.Research limitations/implications -Several new measures were developed for this study which provide a basis for future research but will require further validation. The results demonstrated the applicability of SCCT in a non-Western context but the amount of variance explained was modest. Thus, additional research into context-specific factors affecting persistence is warranted. Practical implications -The results suggest that interventions intended to enhance the participation of women in non-traditional fields such as engineering should focus on enhancing self-efficacy, potentially through creating a more supportive learning environment. Originality/value -The current study is one of the first to assess the applicability of SCCT in a non-Western context and to examine the differential validity of SCCT predictors for women and men.

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