Disciplinary Differences in Norms Divergently Shape Engineering Role Identity for Civil Engineers and Environmental Engineers

Addressing the masculine culture of engineering has been identified as a promising approach to including and supporting women in engineering. How students conform to the masculine norms of engineering and see themselves as engineers has implications for how students pursue, engage with, and persist in undergraduate engineering programs. Existing work has taken a broad approach to understanding how students conform to masculine norms and perceive themselves as engineers within a dominant engineering culture. However, considering the demographic and cultural differences between engineering majors, there is a need for work that takes a disciplinary approach to better understand differences and create tailored solutions to address cultural norms and representation. To address this need, this quantitative study leverages norms situated in engineering role identity along with multiple linear regression and hierarchical regression to support a gendered understanding of how introductory engineering students conform to masculine norms and see themselves as engineers by engineering discipline. Multiple linear regression examined how disciplinary interest predicted conformity to masculine social norms by gender. Hierarchical linear regression examined the degree to which interest, conformity to masculine norms, and gender predicted engineering identity. Results emphasized the separate impacts of gender and interest in specific disciplines as predictive of conformity and engineering identity. Overall, women were less likely to conform to masculine social norms, while being more likely to see themselves as engineers. Civil engineering and environmental engineering were also highlighted as two disciplines where introductory students were respectively the most and least likely to conform to masculine norms, independently of gender. These findings guide suggestions for educators looking to shift the default masculine cultures of engineering to include women and increase representation across disciplines.