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Job involvement of male and female graduate engineers in South Africa

The study investigated the job involvement of a sample of 125 graduate engineers in South Africa. In particular, whether gender differences existed in the level of job involvement, as well as in the factors influencing job involvement (N = 68 males; N = 57 females). The specific factors investigated...

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Main Author: Von Hirschfeld, S D
Other Authors: Kellerman, A M
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Organisational Psychology 2016
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access_status_str Open Access
author Von Hirschfeld, S D
author2 Kellerman, A M
author_browse Kellerman, A M
Von Hirschfeld, S D
author_facet Kellerman, A M
Von Hirschfeld, S D
author_sort Von Hirschfeld, S D
collection Thesis
description The study investigated the job involvement of a sample of 125 graduate engineers in South Africa. In particular, whether gender differences existed in the level of job involvement, as well as in the factors influencing job involvement (N = 68 males; N = 57 females). The specific factors investigated were biographic variables and career anchors. The method used was the analytical survey method; three questionnaires were administered. These were: the Lodahl and Kejner (1965) Job Involvement Scale, Schein's (1982) Career Anchor Inventory and a biographic questionnaire. Questionnaires were sent to all female engineers who are registered with one of the professional engineering institutes, while the male sample was drawn from a variety of sources. Intercorrelation coefficients were calculated for all variables. Analyses of variance were performed to test for significant differences amongst male and females with respect to the variables and relationships measured and a stepwise multiple regression analysis was performed to identify predictors of job involvement by career anchors. No gender differences in level of job involvement were found. However, significant gender differences were found in the relative strength of four out of the nine career anchors measured. Social conditioning and expectations were proposed as the reasons for this. Further, significant differences were found with respect to the degree to which career anchors are related to job involvement for males and females. Contrary to conventional wisdom, being married and having children did not affect the job involvement of female engineers, while married men were more job involved than unmarried men. The study did not contribute greatly to the understanding of the dynamics of female job involvement, inasmuch as career anchors were found to explain only 8, 8% of the variance in job involvement scores. In contrast, career anchors were found to be significant predictors of job involvement for males. (38,8% of the variance explained). Implications of the results are discussed in terms of the alleviation of the skills shortage and organisational strategies such as the development of technical or specialist career ladders, job design and career counselling and career management skills for both males and females, are proposed. Further areas for research, especially into the dynamics of female job involvement, are suggested.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2016
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/17703 Job involvement of male and female graduate engineers in South Africa Von Hirschfeld, S D Kellerman, A M Industrial and Organisational Psychology The study investigated the job involvement of a sample of 125 graduate engineers in South Africa. In particular, whether gender differences existed in the level of job involvement, as well as in the factors influencing job involvement (N = 68 males; N = 57 females). The specific factors investigated were biographic variables and career anchors. The method used was the analytical survey method; three questionnaires were administered. These were: the Lodahl and Kejner (1965) Job Involvement Scale, Schein's (1982) Career Anchor Inventory and a biographic questionnaire. Questionnaires were sent to all female engineers who are registered with one of the professional engineering institutes, while the male sample was drawn from a variety of sources. Intercorrelation coefficients were calculated for all variables. Analyses of variance were performed to test for significant differences amongst male and females with respect to the variables and relationships measured and a stepwise multiple regression analysis was performed to identify predictors of job involvement by career anchors. No gender differences in level of job involvement were found. However, significant gender differences were found in the relative strength of four out of the nine career anchors measured. Social conditioning and expectations were proposed as the reasons for this. Further, significant differences were found with respect to the degree to which career anchors are related to job involvement for males and females. Contrary to conventional wisdom, being married and having children did not affect the job involvement of female engineers, while married men were more job involved than unmarried men. The study did not contribute greatly to the understanding of the dynamics of female job involvement, inasmuch as career anchors were found to explain only 8, 8% of the variance in job involvement scores. In contrast, career anchors were found to be significant predictors of job involvement for males. (38,8% of the variance explained). Implications of the results are discussed in terms of the alleviation of the skills shortage and organisational strategies such as the development of technical or specialist career ladders, job design and career counselling and career management skills for both males and females, are proposed. Further areas for research, especially into the dynamics of female job involvement, are suggested. 2016-03-14T07:15:59Z 2016-03-14T07:15:59Z 1988 Master Thesis Masters MA http://hdl.handle.net/11427/17703 eng application/pdf Organisational Psychology Faculty of Commerce University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Industrial and Organisational Psychology
Von Hirschfeld, S D
Job involvement of male and female graduate engineers in South Africa
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Job involvement of male and female graduate engineers in South Africa
title_full Job involvement of male and female graduate engineers in South Africa
title_fullStr Job involvement of male and female graduate engineers in South Africa
title_full_unstemmed Job involvement of male and female graduate engineers in South Africa
title_short Job involvement of male and female graduate engineers in South Africa
title_sort job involvement of male and female graduate engineers in south africa
topic Industrial and Organisational Psychology
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/17703
work_keys_str_mv AT vonhirschfeldsd jobinvolvementofmaleandfemalegraduateengineersinsouthafrica