King Lewis, A and Shan, Y (2024) Persistence of women in the construction industry. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 150(7): 04024061, ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
The construction industry, traditionally male-dominated, faces notable turnover among women. The rise in female graduates compared with their low industry retention highlights a need for systemic changes to create a more inclusive and equitable environment. This study focuses on the attributes and experiences of women in construction and recognizes the critical need for systemic changes within the industry to foster a more inclusive and equitable environment. This study examined the personal attributes of women in construction and the organizational factors of their workplaces that influenced women's persistence in the industry. Participants were classified as persisters or nonpersisters and responded to 101 statements categorized into 14 scales that measured personal and organizational factors identified in the available literature. Responses from persisters (n=108) and nonpersisters (n=20) were compared using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), ANOVA, and logistic regression models. The study acknowledges a limitation in its statistical power due to a smaller sample size of nonpersisters (n=20), with a power analysis indicating 68% power for hypothesis testing. Despite this limitation, significant findings were observed, such as indicating that women with a higher degree of career resilience were significantly more likely to persist in the industry [adjusted odds ratio (aOR)=6.82; p=0.01], whereas women with high organizational self-efficacy were significantly less likely to persist (aOR=0.05; p=0.01). These findings suggest that resilience may be an effective intervention target to increase women's retention in the construction industry. The findings offer fresh insights and have significant implications for industry practices and policies, paving the way for more inclusive and equitable workplace environments in construction. Future research should aim to deepen our understanding of these dynamics and help develop targeted interventions to support women's sustained participation in the construction industry.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Index terms: | sample size, variance, organizational factor, logistic regression, retention, testing, construction industry, self-efficacy, dynamics, women, face, turnover, paving, multivariate analysis, career, workplace environment |
| Subjects: | measurement and scaling, sociology, statistical analysis, systems engineering, transportation engineering, industry analysis, management, professional development, psychology, professional practice, business management, research design and methodology, business, human factors and perception |
| Topics: | Information Management, Engineering Principles, Research Practice, Business Strategy, Organizational Design, Human Resources |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here