Asee peer logo

Challenges and Opportunities to Address Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion within the Professional Construction Industry

Download Paper |

Conference

2024 Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity (CoNECD)

Location

Arlington, Virginia

Publication Date

February 25, 2024

Start Date

February 25, 2024

End Date

February 27, 2024

Conference Session

Track 7: Technical Session 7: Challenges and Opportunities to Address Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion within the Professional Construction Industry

Tagged Topics

Diversity and CoNECD Paper Sessions

Page Count

18

DOI

10.18260/1-2--45436

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/45436

Download Count

287

Paper Authors

author page

Andres Nieto Virginia Tech Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-7996-7115

biography

Homero Murzi Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0003-3849-2947

visit author page

Dr. Homero Murzi (he/él/his) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech with honorary appointments at the University of Queensland (Australia) and the University of Los Andes (Venezuela). Homero is the leader of the Engineering Competencies, Learning, and Inclusive Practices for Success (ECLIPS) Lab, where he leads a team focused on doing research on contemporary, culturally relevant, and inclusive pedagogical practices, emotions in engineering, competency development, and understanding the experiences of traditionally marginalized engineering students (e.g., Latinx, international students, Indigenous students) from an asset-based perspective. Homero’s goal is to develop engineering education practices that value the capital that traditionally marginalized students bring into the field and to train graduate students and faculty members with the tools to promote effective and inclusive learning environments and mentorship practices. Homero aspires to change discourses around broadening participation in engineering and promoting action to change. Homero has been recognized as a Diggs Teaching Scholar, a Graduate Academy for Teaching Excellence Fellow, a Global Perspectives Fellow, a Diversity Scholar, a Fulbright Scholar, a recipient of the NSF CAREER award, and was inducted into the Bouchet Honor Society. Homero serves as the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Chair for the Commission on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (CDEI), the Program Chair for the ASEE Faculty Development Division, and the Vice Chair for the Research in Engineering Education Network (REEN). He holds degrees in Industrial Engineering (BS, MS) from the National Experimental University of Táchira, Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Temple University, and Engineering Education (PhD) from Virginia Tech.

visit author page

author page

Abiola Akanmu Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

author page

Anthony Olukayode Yusuf Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0003-1574-788X

biography

Sheryl Ball Virginia Tech

visit author page

Dr. Sheryl Ball is a Professor of Economics at Virginia Tech. She is an experimental economist that in recent years is also doing very interesting work in the area of Neuroeconomics. Dr. Ball studies different aspects of individual decision-making as well strategic behavior both inside and out of the lab. Much of her current research is interdisciplinary and done in collaboration with others at the Virginia Tech Carillion Research Institute and Medical Center in Roanoke. In addition to her academic achievements, her contributions to research in these fields has also been acknowledged by the National Science Foundation, Hewlett Packard, the Andrew Mellon Foundation, the National Institute for Dispute Resolution, Hughes Telecommunications and Space, as well as university-level research grants, including a senior fellowship from the Institute for Society, Culture and Environment. Her work has led to the development of intellectual property, including software programs to help individuals and companies prepare for and participate in auctions.

Dr. Sheryl Ball received her bachelor’s degree with honors in mathematical methods in social sciences, and her master’s and doctoral degrees in managerial economics and decision sciences from Northwestern University. She has also served as an Associate Dean for curriculum, instruction, and advising in the College of Science, Associate Department Head of Economics and Undergraduate Program Director for Economics. She is Associate Editor at Economic Modeling. As a woman in STEM Dr. Ball has presented work on active learning and research, as well as women in science and is actively involved with mentoring for Committee for the Status of Women in the Economics Profession.

visit author page

visit author page

Walid Saad received his Ph.D degree from the University of Oslo in 2010. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor and the Steven O. Lane Junior Faculty Fellow at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech, where he leads the Ne

visit author page

biography

Andrea Nana Ofori-Boadu North Carolina A&T State University (CoE) Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-6401-1399

visit author page

Dr. Andrea N. Ofori-Boadu is an Associate Professor of Construction and Construction Management with the Department of Built Environment within the College of Science and Technology at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NCA & T).

visit author page

Download Paper |

Abstract

The construction industry has been a predominantly White/Caucasian Men community with a very low representation of women and people from traditionally marginalized backgrounds. Even though companies have been implementing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) statements for many years, we still believe it is neither a diverse nor equitable field. To better understand how DEI statements declared by companies have been understood and recognized by employees, a survey was deployed nationwide to understand how professionals in the construction industry perceive their organization's DEI statements or policies. A complete data set was built from 249 participants. 75% identified themselves as men and 25% as women, and nobody identified with other gender identities. More than 80% of participants were White/Caucasian, 4% Black or African American, 4% Hispanic or Latinx, and 6% Asian. Participants are currently working in small (24%), medium (30%), and large (46%) construction and design companies located across The United States. Regarding the number of employees, companies are small, less than 99 employees; medium, between 100 and 499 employees; and large, more than 500 employees. Also, companies were grouped into four main types, building construction companies (67%), transportation construction companies (6%), special trade contractor companies (17%), and design companies (10%).

For more than 65% of professionals in the construction industry who participated in this study, DEI was mainly related to proper representation of women and minoritized populations in the workforce; Merit-based transparent recruitment and promotion; equality, social justice, and nondiscrimination policy statement; and equitable payment and compensation. Other factors such as proper representation of women and minoritized populations at the top management level and payment structure transparency did not emerge from the results. We also found that 70% of professionals identified DEI statements in their companies and 30% of professionals did not identify or did not know about DEI statements. Looking at the company size, 85% of professionals in large companies identified DEI statements in their companies, but 71% and 42% of professionals in medium and small companies identified DEI statements in their companies, respectively. According to the company type, more than 80% of professionals working in design companies recognized DEI statements in their companies, but around 60% in construction and special trade companies.

We can highlight that large companies have established policies and practices that result in better socialization and recognition of their DEI statements than medium and small companies. Also, construction and special trade companies need to strengthen their DEI statements and increase the representation of women and people from traditionally marginalized backgrounds. Results from this research give an idea about the current state of DEI in the construction industry and would contribute to the current effort to increase the diversity of the nation's construction workforce.

Nieto, A., & Murzi, H., & Akanmu, A., & Yusuf, A. O., & Ball, S., & Saad, W., & Ofori-Boadu, A. N. (2024, February), Challenges and Opportunities to Address Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion within the Professional Construction Industry Paper presented at 2024 Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity (CoNECD), Arlington, Virginia. 10.18260/1-2--45436

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2024 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015