Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2011
Abstract
Women remain underrepresented in the engineering profession comprising only 10% of the employed engineers in 2009 while in that same year− according to the US Bureau of Labor statistics − women exceeded more than half of those employed in professional, managerial and related occupations. While others have studied the reasons women leave engineering careers, this study focused uniquely on women who persist in a career in engineering. A quantitative research study was conducted which surveyed 495 women ages 21 to 60 with engineering degrees to develop a model of the individual factors that lead women to commit to a career in engineering. Included is the development of a new construct− the ideal self. Our findings should be of interest to universities and government agencies hoping to recruit and retain more women in the engineering profession and to organizations in search of women who are committed to engineering.
Keywords
retention, women engineers, STEM, self efficacy, ideal self, career commitment, engagement
Rights
© The Author(s). Kelvin Smith Library provides access for non-commercial, personal, or research use only. All other use, including but not limited to commercial or scholarly reproductions, redistribution, publication or transmission, whether by electronic means or otherwise, without prior written permission is strictly prohibited.
Department/Center
Design & Innovation
Recommended Citation
Buse, Kathleen R., "Why They Stay: Individual Factors Predicting Career Commitment for Woman Engineers" (2011). Student Scholarship. 536.
https://commons.case.edu/studentworks/536