The influence of personal skills development and coping self-efficacy on the affective occupational commitment of women in STEM fields

Purpose Despite continuing under-representation of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, the literature still falls short on identifying and explaining the factors that could contribute to women's persistence and commitment. The purpose of this research is to identify cognitive and behavioral factors that will support the occupational commitment of women in STEM. Design/methodology/approach Quantitative analysis is based on a questionnaire survey of 375 women working in STEM in the Middle East region. Multiple regression and bootstrapping methods were employed in the analysis of the data. Findings The results support the following hypotheses: personal skills development has a positive impact on affective occupational commitment and coping self-efficacy, and coping self-efficacy mediates the relationship between personal skills development and affective occupational commitment. Originality/value This study adds insights on the dynamic approaches adopted by women in STEM fields to overcome occupational career challenges by testing several internal drivers, coping self-efficacy and personal learning.