The Role of Contextual Variables and Structural Diversity on College Students’ Engineering Self-Efficacy

Abstract

Structural diversity is defined as the numerical representation of diverse racial/ethnic student groups on campus as one way of exposing students to diversity in higher education. The current study implemented the concept of structural diversity on faculty in higher education, given the significant and unique roles in STEM education. We integrated the proportion of URM faculty within the College of Engineering as a moderating variable in the social cognitive career theory (SCCT) model. With a sample of 254 diverse engineering students from six universities, the results indicated that both perceived engineering barriers and perceived engineering supports significantly related to perceived self-efficacy even after controlling for the effects of the other. Perceived engineering supports mediated the effects of engineering barriers on self-efficacy. Moreover, a moderated mediation effect by the proportion of URM faculty was observed, showing that when the proportion of URM faculty reached a certain level, high levels of perceived engineering barriers had no effect on increasing perceived engineering supports. Implications for fostering career development in engineering with a systematic-tailored approach are discussed.