Strategic Interventions to Enhance Emirati Women’s Career Choice Preferences in the Private Sector: A Study from the UAE

Abstract

In recent years, the range of career choices available to undergraduates has grown steadily. Female Emirati undergraduates, however, are much more likely to choose work in the public, rather than private, sector. The preference of female Emirati undergraduates for the public sector, and the difficulties in motivating them to consider and choose private-sector jobs has become a pressing concern. This study examined the factors encouraging female Emirati undergraduates to enter the private sector, and which might increase the percentage of them doing so. The moderating effects of age and internship programs were also examined for their impact on the choices of female Emirati undergraduates. A literature review and an examination of self-efficacy, expectancy–value theory, and the theory of planned behavior provided a conceptual framework, and hypotheses were developed about the relationships between individual characteristics, the institutional environment, the social environment, age, internship programs, and career choice, moderated by age and internship programs. This study used a quantitative approach, which is appropriate for testing existing theories, and produces reliable data. Primary data were collected using hard-copy and online questionnaires distributed among female Emirati undergraduates in both public and private universities. In all, 1303 completed questionnaires were returned, although only 1184 were used, after working students were excluded. In total, 435 hard-copy surveys and 749 online questionnaires were assessed. The results suggest that personality traits, social environment, and institutional environment positively and directly affected career-choice decision-making of female Emirati undergraduates, moderated by age and internship programs. The findings do not support the hypothesis that there is a direct relationship between neuroticism, agreeableness, or socioeconomic status with career-choice decisions. They also do not support the hypothesis that there is a moderate relationship between neuroticism and socioeconomic status with career-choice decision by age or between workplace expectations with career-choice decisions moderated by internship programs. These findings have theoretical implications for the study variables and framework. They also have practical implications for educational institutions and governmental and non-governmental organizations and are useful for understanding the factors affecting why female Emirati undergraduates choose to work in the private sector. Future research should continue to develop our understanding of career decision-making of students from other regions and countries. It should also consider a mixed-methods approach to explore other factors that may influence female Emirati undergraduates’ choice of private or public sector. The novelty of this study is its use of variables that have effects on career-choice decision-making in Bayesian modeling and structural equation modeling, followed by testing of the relationships among the variables.