Tracing the career trajectories of architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) women leaders

IF 3 Q2 BUSINESS

Construction Management and Economics Pub Date : 2023-09-29 DOI:10.1080/01446193.2023.2260907

Paul J. Hickey, Qingbin Cui

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Abstract

AbstractThis study delves into the professional trajectories of 20 women leaders Vice President (VP) and above in the U.S. Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) sector. These accomplished women, carefully selected from Engineering News Record’s (ENR's) Top 400 firms, shared their personal stories, discussing both triumphs and challenges influencing their journey to senior corporate positions. This collection of experiences provides valuable insights to identify the root causes of women’s underrepresentation in the industry. Moreover, this investigation aims to create a career roadmap that supports early and mid-career women in their pursuit of success within AEC. Success factors contributing to these women’s rise include a supportive partner, receiving early mentoring and possessing a genuine passion for their projects. Companies seeking to stand out and benefit from innovative outcomes that diversity offers should consider implementing diversity programs and fostering the growth of women throughout their careers. This may involve actively recruiting young women and providing funding for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) programs and scholarships for pre-college girls. Identified initiatives hold the potential to increase the number of women entering the industry and reduce the rate of early departures, thus helping to close the workforce shortage gap in the construction sector.Keywords: Genderdiversitycareer pathleadershipconstruction industry AcknowledgementsPrimary author extends special thanks to the doctoral committee: Dr. Qingbin Cui (chair), Dr. Hugh Bruck, Dr. Georgina Dodge, Dr. Hui Liao and Dr. Melissa L. Rocco. Their continued support solidified the foundation, analysis methodology, and overall quality of the research. In particular, Dr. Rocco’s insight infused qualitative research expertise into earlier drafts. In addition, authors appreciate the constructive suggestions from Construction Management and Economics editors and referees to further strengthen the concepts and contributions of the manuscript.Disclosure StatementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Data availability statementPublicly available information sources guided candidate pool selection. Due to the sensitivity of the individual responses coupled with University of Maryland IRB requirements, raw data and data profile are subject to confidentiality protection per those restrictions.

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追踪建筑、工程和建筑(AEC)女性领导者的职业轨迹

摘要本研究探讨了20位美国建筑、工程和建设(AEC)行业副总裁及以上职位的女性领导者的职业轨迹。这些成功女性是从《工程新闻记录》(ENR)的400强公司中精心挑选出来的，她们分享了自己的个人故事，讨论了影响她们晋升到公司高级职位的成功和挑战。这些经验为确定女性在行业中代表性不足的根本原因提供了宝贵的见解。此外，本调查旨在创建一个职业路线图，以支持早期和中期职业女性在AEC中追求成功。促成这些女性崛起的成功因素包括一个支持她们的伴侣、接受早期指导以及对她们的项目拥有真正的热情。寻求脱颖而出并从多元化带来的创新成果中受益的公司应该考虑实施多元化计划，并在整个职业生涯中促进女性的成长。这可能包括积极招募年轻女性，为科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)项目提供资金，并为上大学前的女孩提供奖学金。已确定的举措有可能增加进入该行业的妇女人数，减少过早离职率，从而有助于缩小建筑部门劳动力短缺的差距。主要作者特别感谢博士委员会:崔庆斌博士(主席)、Hugh Bruck博士、Georgina Dodge博士、廖慧博士和Melissa L. Rocco博士。他们的持续支持巩固了研究的基础、分析方法和整体质量。特别是，Rocco博士的洞察力将定性研究的专业知识注入到早期的草案中。此外，作者感谢《建设管理与经济》编辑和审稿人提出的建设性意见，以进一步加强稿件的概念和贡献。披露声明作者未报告潜在的利益冲突。数据可用性声明公开可用的信息来源指导候选人池的选择。由于个人回复的敏感性以及马里兰大学内部审查委员会的要求，原始数据和数据概要受到这些限制的保密保护。

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来源期刊

Construction Management and Economics BUSINESS-

CiteScore

7.50

自引率

14.70%

发文量

期刊介绍： Construction Management and Economics publishes high-quality original research concerning the management and economics of activity in the construction industry. Our concern is the production of the built environment. We seek to extend the concept of construction beyond on-site production to include a wide range of value-adding activities and involving coalitions of multiple actors, including clients and users, that evolve over time. We embrace the entire range of construction services provided by the architecture/engineering/construction sector, including design, procurement and through-life management. We welcome papers that demonstrate how the range of diverse academic and professional disciplines enable robust and novel theoretical, methodological and/or empirical insights into the world of construction. Ultimately, our aim is to inform and advance academic debates in the various disciplines that converge on the construction sector as a topic of research. While we expect papers to have strong theoretical positioning, we also seek contributions that offer critical, reflexive accounts on practice. Construction Management & Economics now publishes the following article types: -Research Papers -Notes - offering a comment on a previously published paper or report a new idea, empirical finding or approach. -Book Reviews -Letters - terse, scholarly comments on any aspect of interest to our readership. Commentaries -Obituaries - welcome in relation to significant figures in our field.