Wen, J and Gheisari, M (2025) VR women: Attracting female students to construction through immersive storytelling. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 151(10): 04025142, ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
Construction occupations, such as construction managers, are projected to grow faster than the average for all occupations from 2022 to 2032. Among these occupations, leadership positions in construction have been the most challenging to fill. Because of the workforce shortage, the industry has come to realize the significance of expanding the talent pool and recruiting historically underrepresented groups (e.g., women), given that this industry has been one of the most affected sectors to suffer from a lack of gender diversity. Despite ongoing efforts to augment female interest in construction educational programs, the desired outcomes have remained elusive. Thus, a critical need exists to explore innovative practices to motivate more prospective female students to enroll in construction programs. This study explored the utilization of 360-degree virtual immersive environments, powered by virtual characters, to narrate stories of the construction industry from female perspectives (VR Women). This paper first introduced in detail the creation and development process of VR Women. This study applies social cognitive career theory to examined how VR Women affected students' attitudes toward the construction fields and how students' personal and contextual influences played a role in the outcome of VR Women. Students' cognitive attitudes were enhanced after the VR Women experience, where self-efficacy and outcome expectations were significantly improved. Additionally, the findings suggest that VR Women positively affects all female students regardless of their demographics, majors, accessibility to construction-related recourses, or encountered barriers. The primary contribution of this study lies in enriching researchers' and educators' understanding of the potential impact of immersive storytelling in motivating prospective female students and ultimately attracting them to the construction field in a cost-effective manner.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | 360-degree virtual environment; construction education; female participation; gender diversity; immersive storytelling; social cognitive career theory; women in construction |
| Index terms: | construction industry, self-efficacy, demographics, women, accessibility, construction education, career, program, construction manager, occupation, virtual environment |
| Subjects: | professional development, software systems, industry analysis, sociology, profession, virtual reality, inclusive design, demography, professional education, human factors and perception |
| Topics: | Education, Design Practice, Urban Studies, Digital Applications, Research Practice, Information Management, Roles and Professions |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
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