The relationship between individual related factor, person-environment fit, mentoring, and career advancement among Malaysian women engineers: the mediating role of work engagement.

The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of individual-related factor (self-efficacy and self-esteem), person-environmental fit (person-organization, person-job, person-group, and person-vocation fit), and mentoring on women engineers’ objectives CA (promotion, salary, and job level); and women engineers’ subjective CA (career satisfaction). In addition, the study also examined the role of work engagement as a mediator in the relationship between individual-related factor, person-environment fit, mentoring and women engineers’ CA. Social Cognitive Career Theory and Human Capital Theory was applied in this study. 15,240 Malaysian women engineers who registered with Institution of Engineering Malaysia was chosen as a population of the study. In addition, stratified random sampling technique was applied. The findings indicate that self-efficacy, self-esteem, person-organization fit, person-job fit, person-group fit, person-vocation fit, mentoring, have significant relationship with subjective CA. While, self-efficacy, person-job fit, person-vocation fit, mentoring, and career strategy were found not to influence objective CA. On the mediating effect, work engagement was found not to mediate the relationship between self-efficacy, person-job fit, person-group fit, person-vocation fit, mentoring, and objective CA. For the rest of the relationship, work engagement was found to mediate. In moderating effect, career strategy was found to moderate the relationship between work engagement and subjective CA. The findings of this study have contributed to current knowledge of CA from Malaysian women engineers’ perspective.