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

Abstract

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.

Changes in Job Situations for Women Workforce in Construction during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…The percentages of respondents who worked in the two major states of New South Wales and Victoria are 42.9% and 26.7%, respectively. About 65% of the respondents worked in an office environment before the pandemic, providing indicative evidence where women tend to be allocated with office-based tasks as reported in the literature (e.g., Ling and Poh, 2004;Lingard and Francis, 2004;Oo, Lim and Feng, 2020). Next, on their pre-tax annual income, as high as above 50% of the respondents earned above A$ 100,000, and of these, close to 38% earned above A$ 120,000.…”

“…On one hand, there are evidence of their dissatisfaction with their construction career along with reported high intention to leave the industry (e.g., Dainty, Neale and Bagilhole, 1999;Dabke, et al, 2008;Hee and Ling, 2011). On the other hand, it is encouraging that some recent studies have reported a rather high level of job satisfaction among women workforce in the industry (e.g., Malone and Issa, 2013;Oo, Lim and Feng, 2020;Oo, Liu and Lim, 2020). Nonetheless, the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced unique circumstances and challenges to women workforce in construction, these include the need to work from home, changes in job situations, changes in housework, childcare and home-schooling following the COVID lockdowns.…”

Analysing Gender Issues in the Australian Construction Industry through the Lens of Empowerment

“…These are less active stances to empowerment, looking at the barriers from others and the environment, rather than either personal or even relational factors of empowerment characterised by a more active approach (e.g., participation and engagement, motivation and control). Nonetheless, although not analysed in depth by the revised references, some of the literature points to the importance of personal factors, such as self-derived motivation, interest, proactive personality, aspirations, skill and confidence, to women's attraction, retention and progression in the construction industry [7,[46][47][48][49][50].…”

“…For professional roles, Oo et al [47] survey with construction management graduates suggests that work opportunity and salary levels are decisive elements for career choice, followed by a sense of self-efficacy. Studies reveal that achieving aspirations and expectations are correlated with satisfaction in the industry [47,48].…”

Women Workforce in Construction during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Challenges and Strategies

“…The recruitment and retention of women workforce in the industry has been very challenging (Morello, Issa and Franz 2018). Fortunately, some recent studies have reported a rather high level of job satisfaction among women workforce in the industry (e.g., Malone and Issa 2013;Oo, Feng and Lim 2020;Oo, Liu and Lim 2020), which seemingly suggest some women are advancing in today's construction industry (Francis 2017). Above all, it is clear from the literature that individual women are differentially affected by barriers and challenges related to their career in construction in pre-COVID era.…”