While women perform as well as their male counterparts at work they are drastically underrepresented in the onboarding process to senior leadership. To shed some light on this disparity, Rosanne L. Hartman, PhD, and Emily G. Barber MS ’19 examined the potential differences of occupational self-efficacy, work engagement and career aspirations between women and men. Hartman is a professor of communication studies; Barber is director of contract staffing at StraussGroup Executive Search Consultants. The study originated from Barber’s capstone research paper. Results showed that occupational self-efficacy has a positive effect on career aspirations of women in the workplace. Further, there was no statistically significant difference between occupational self-efficacy and work engagement between men and women. However, the research found men to have statistically, significantly higher career aspirations than women.
Individuals who are high in occupational self-efficacy may set their own path in advancing within their career. However, individuals who are low or moderate in occupational self-efficacy may require further encouragement and development using additional resources as a catalyst for advancement guidance.
Much more on Hartman’s and Barber’s findings can be read here.
Submitted by: College Communications
