Impact of Gender Diversity in An MBA Batch: Analyzing the evolution of motivational factors towards various career choices

Abstract

The concepts of “career choice”, “gender diversity” and “evolution of motivation” have been extensive topics of research. However, seldom has an effort been made to integrate these three pillars in order to understand the impact of one on the other. The motivational factors have often been classified as “extrinsic” and “intrinsic” [1] [2] and their influence on the career choices of MBA student have been studied. It has been found that the sex of the student impacts the development of motivational factors [3].This study takes the first step in order to understand the evolution of motivational factors towards various “career choices” [M5] during two distinct phases of the two year MBA program: “at the beginning of the program” and “during the final placements”. It is expected that initially a student’s formal understanding of the career path evolves through the processes of case studies, lectures, seminars and background readings while the informal understanding evolves through experience-sharing interactions with professors, seniors, fellow students and alumni. The perceptions, experiences and aspirations may vary by gender based groups. The nature of input that the student gets about a career trajectory through these interactions varies with respect to the gender of the person the student is interacting with. This highlights the role gender diversity may play in influencing an individual’s factors of motivation towards a career path. The article aims to understand the impact of gender diversity on formation of different stereotypes and the evolution of motivational factors towards various career choices in an MBA program.