The motivations, career decisions, and decision-making processes of female students studying the professional doctorate in engineering

Abstract

Women in engineering represent a significant group within the profession, across a range of fields, including oil, mechanical engineering, and biomedical engineering. However, only a few female engineers and engineering students decided to enter and stay in the engineering field due to social stigma and stereotypes toward women in engineering. The purpose of this study is to understand and investigate the motivations, career decisions, and decision-making processes of a group of female engineers and Doctorate in Engineering (DEng) engineering students in the American university environment. Based on the social cognitive career and motivation theory, the research study wants to understand the motivations, career decisions, and decision-making processes of a group of DEng female students in the United States. The case study design with semi-structured interviews, focus group activities, and member-checking interviews were employed to collect data from ten participants. The results indicated that career development, upgrade the current practice and management in engineering, and gender is not an issue for women in engineering were categorised as the themes. The results of this study outlined the qualitative comments about the learning motivations of female DEng and the reasons why DEng would be their selection instead of the traditional PhD in Engineering programme. The results also filled the gaps in the areas of female engineering students and professionals’ motivations, career decisions, and decision-making processes after they completed the Professional Doctorate programme.