The impact of gender diversity in the culture of the construction industry

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship among cultural values and level of education, age, and region of the country/world for the women in the international construction industry. The study comparisons were done between the members of the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) across the United Sates as well as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. The study will be utilized to enhance the understanding of the selected traits of the members of NAWIC internationally. The cultural scale developed by Dorfman and Howell measures collectivism, power distance, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and paternalism was used in the research. Due to the small number of responses from the international members, the research was only based on those living in the United States. The researcher collected a sample of 714 surveys. The study was to explore the relationship among the five cultural dimensions and the respondents' education level, age, and region of country. The results revealed that there was no relationship between power distance and age or paternalism and age. And there were no significant differences between the five cultural dimensions relating to education level, age, and region of country. The researcher suggests further investigation into the international construction industry, a study on males in the industry or other male dominated industries, and the focus on different variables relating to the industry.