Likeability versus Competence Dilemma: Text Mining Approach Using LinkedIn Data
Publication: Journal of Management in Engineering
Volume 39, Issue 3
Abstract
Women are significantly underrepresented in construction and engineering industry leadership roles despite having comparable qualifications, experience, and degrees. Improvements require a better understanding of the factors leading to the underrepresentation of females in the construction industry. While prior studies report that a male-dominated culture in construction negatively impacts females’ career advancement, minimal research explores the role congruity theory and the likeability and competency dilemma among construction leaders. When striving to succeed in traditionally male-dominated fields, women face a unique challenge because they need to defy gender stereotypes created by cultural norms, encapsulated by the likeability versus competency dilemma. Females who accomplish traditionally male tasks and demonstrate independence, assertiveness, self-reliance, and power are no longer seen as likeable. Through analyzing publicly available LinkedIn recommendations, this paper proposed a data-driven approach for examining the likeability and competency dilemma for female construction leaders. Results showed that female leaders in construction were seen as competent in the same way as their male counterparts, but far less likeable (a likeability score of 28% compared to 51% for males). Developing a text mining model to predict the gender of the person receiving a recommendation, this paper also highlights unconscious bias in describing and reacting to leaders’ successes. The machine learning model accurately predicted the gender of the person receiving the recommendation with more than 86% accuracy. Despite possessing the sufficient capability to handle traditionally male work successfully, women receive negative judgment from colleagues, creating challenges in their career paths. Finally, the paper contributes to social role theory and role congruity theory by highlighting the differences in gender roles and leadership roles for women in the construction industry.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
References
Aga, D. A., N. Noorderhaven, and B. Vallejo. 2016. “Transformational leadership and project success: The mediating role of team-building.” Int. J. Project Manage. 34 (5): 806–818. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2016.02.012.
Anglin, A. H., P. A. Kincaid, J. C. Short, and D. G. Allen. 2022. “Role theory perspectives: Past, present, and future applications of role theories in management research.” J. Manage. 48 (6): 1469–1502. https://doi.org/10.1177/01492063221081442.
Arditi, D., and G. Balci. 2009. “Managerial competencies of female and male construction managers.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 135 (11): 1275–1278. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000100.
Arditi, D., P. Gluch, and M. Holmdahl. 2013. “Managerial competencies of female and male managers in the Swedish construction industry.” Construct. Manage. Econ. 31 (9): 979–990. https://doi.org/10.1080/01446193.2013.828845.
Badura, K. L., E. Grijalva, D. A. Newman, T. T. Yan, and G. Jeon. 2018. “Gender and leadership emergence: A meta-analysis and explanatory model.” Personnel Psychol. 71 (3): 335–367. https://doi.org/10.1111/peps.12266.
Baker, M., M. Ali, and E. French. 2021. “Leadership diversity and its influence on equality initiatives and performance: Insights for construction management.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 147 (10): 04021123. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0002147.
Biernat, M., and K. Fuegen. 2001. “Shifting standards and the evaluation of competence: Complexity in gender-based judgment and decision making.” J. Social Issues 57 (4): 707–724. https://doi.org/10.1111/0022-4537.00237.
Borjigin, S. G., M. A. Austin, and E. J. Zontek-Carney. 2022. “Semiautomated development of textual requirements: Combined NLP and multidomain semantic modeling approach.” J. Manage. Eng. 38 (5): 04022053. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0001076.
Briere, S., and I. Auclair. 2020. “Toward gendered projects in international development: Paradoxes, resistance and convergent approaches.” Int. J. Project Manage. 38 (8): 500–514. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2020.07.004.
Bryce, T., H. Far, and A. Gardner. 2019. “Barriers to career advancement for female engineers in Australia’s civil construction industry and recommended solutions.” Aust. J. Civ. Eng. 17 (1): 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1080/14488353.2019.1578055.
Chatman, J. A., D. Sharps, S. Mishra, L. J. Kray, and M. S. North. 2022. “Agentic but not warm: Age-gender interactions and the consequences of stereotype incongruity perceptions for middle-aged professional women.” Organ. Behav. Hum. Decis. Process. 173 (Nov): 104190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2022.104190.
Chen, T., M. Fu, R. Liu, X. Xu, S. Zhou, and B. Liu. 2019. “How do project management competencies change within the project management career model in large Chinese construction companies?” Int. J. Project Manage. 37 (3): 485–500. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2018.12.002.
Cheryan, S., and H. R. Markus. 2020. “Masculine defaults: Identifying and mitigating hidden cultural biases.” Psychol. Rev. 127 (6): 1022. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000209.
Chung, H., and T. Van der Lippe. 2020. “Flexible working, work–life balance, and gender equality: Introduction.” Social Indic. Res. 151 (2): 365–381. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-018-2025-x.
Ciancetta, L. M., and S. G. Roch. 2021. “Backlash in performance feedback: Deepening the understanding of the role of gender in performance appraisal.” Hum. Resour. Manage. 60 (4): 641–657. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.22059.
Cimirotić, R., V. Duller, B. Feldbauer-Durstmüller, B. Gärtner, and M. R. Hiebl. 2017. “Enabling factors that contribute to women reaching leadership positions in business organizations: The case of management accountants.” Manage. Res. Rev. 40 (2): 165–194. https://doi.org/10.1108/MRR-10-2014-0233.
Debao, D., M. Yinxia, and Z. Min. 2021. “Analysis of big data job requirements based on K-means text clustering in China.” PLoS One 16 (8): e0255419. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255419.
Eagly, A. H. 1987. Sex differences in social behavior: A social-role interpretation. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Eagly, A. H., and S. J. Karau. 2002. “Role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders.” Psychol. Rev. 109 (3): 573. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.109.3.573.
Eagly, A. H., C. Nater, D. I. Miller, M. Kaufmann, and S. Sczesny. 2020. “Gender stereotypes have changed: A cross-temporal meta-analysis of US public opinion polls from 1946 to 2018.” Am. Psychologist 75 (3): 301. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000494.
Eagly, A. H., and W. Wood. 1999. “The origins of sex differences in human behavior: Evolved dispositions versus social roles.” Am. Psychologist 54 (6): 408. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.54.6.408.
Eagly, A. H., and W. Wood. 2012. “Social role theory.” In Handbook of theories of social psychology, 2. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Eagly, A. H., W. Wood, and A. B. Diekman. 2000. “Social role theory of sex differences and similarities: A current appraisal.” Dev. Social Psychol. Gender 12 (174): 9781410605245. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781410605245.
Ely, R. J., H. Ibarra, and D. M. Kolb. 2011. “Taking gender into account: Theory and design for women’s leadership development programs.” Acad. Manage. Learn. Educ. 10 (3): 474–493. https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2010.0046.
Erfani, A., and Q. Cui. 2021. “Natural language processing application in construction domain: An integrative review and algorithms comparison.” In Proc., Int. Conf. on Computing in Civil Engineering, 26–33. Reston, VA: ASCE. https://doi.org/10.1061/9780784483893.004.
Erfani, A., and Q. Cui. 2022. “Predictive risk modeling for major transportation projects using historical data.” Autom. Constr. 139 (Jul): 104301. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2022.104301.
Erfani, A., Q. Cui, and I. Cavanaugh. 2021. “An empirical analysis of risk similarity among major transportation projects using natural language processing.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 147 (12): 04021175. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0002206.
Esser, A., M. Kahrens, Y. Mouzughi, and E. Eomois. 2018. “A female leadership competency framework from the perspective of male leaders.” Gender Manage. Int. J. 33 (2): 138–166. https://doi.org/10.1108/GM-06-2017-0077.
Farkiya, A., P. Saini, S. Sinha, and S. Desai. 2015. “Natural language processing using NLTK and wordNet.” Int. J. Comput. Sci. Inf. Technol. 6 (6): 5465–5469.
Fisher, E. 2011. “What practitioners consider to be the skills and behaviours of an effective people project manager.” Int. J. Project Manage. 29 (8): 994–1002. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2010.09.002.
Francis, V. 2017. “What influences professional women’s career advancement in construction?” Construct. Manage. Econ. 35 (5): 254–275. https://doi.org/10.1080/01446193.2016.1277026.
Gholamy, A., V. Kreinovich, and O. Kosheleva. 2018. “Why 70/30 or 80/20 relation between training and testing sets: A pedagogical explanation.” Int. J. Intell. Technol. Appl. Stat. 11 (2): 105–111. https://doi.org/10.6148/IJITAS.201806_11(2).0003.
Greer, T. W., and L. L. Carden. 2021. “Exploring the gender wage gap among project managers: A multi-national analysis of human capital and national policies.” Int. J. Project Manage. 39 (1): 21–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2020.09.004.
Hasan, A., A. Ghosh, M. N. Mahmood, and M. J. Thaheem. 2021. “Scientometric review of the twenty-first century research on women in construction.” J. Manage. Eng. 37 (3): 04021004. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000887.
Heilman, M. E., and T. G. Okimoto. 2007. “Why are women penalized for success at male tasks? The implied communality deficit.” J. Appl. Psychol. 92 (1): 81. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.92.1.81.
Heilman, M. E., A. S. Wallen, D. Fuchs, and M. M. Tamkins. 2004. “Penalties for success: Reactions to women who succeed at male gender-typed tasks.” J. Appl. Psychol. 89 (3): 416. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.89.3.416.
Hickey, P. J., and Q. Cui. 2020. “Gender diversity in US construction industry leaders.” J. Manage. Eng. 36 (5): 04020069. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000838.
Hickey, P. J., A. Erfani, and Q. Cui. 2022. “Use of linked in data and machine learning to analyze gender differences in construction career paths.” J. Manage. Eng. 38 (6): 04022060. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0001087.
Hoover, A. E., T. Hack, A. L. Garcia, W. Goodfriend, and M. M. Habashi. 2019. “Powerless men and agentic women: Gender bias in hiring decisions.” Sex Roles 80 (11): 667–680. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-018-0964-y.
Hoyt, C. L., and S. E. Murphy. 2016. “Managing to clear the air: Stereotype threat, women, and leadership.” Leadersh. Q. 27 (3): 387–399. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2015.11.002.
Infante-Perea, M., E. Navarro-Astor, and M. Román-Onsalo. 2021. “Sex, age, work experience, and relatives in building engineering career development.” J. Manage. Eng. 37 (5): 04021041. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000935.
Jaafar, M., and N. L. Othman. 2013. “Assessing the capability of women construction project managers based on liberal feminist theory.” Int. J. Constr. Manage. 13 (4): 35–52. https://doi.org/10.1080/15623599.2013.10878228.
Jauhar, J., and V. Lau. 2018. “The ‘Glass Ceiling’ and Women’s career advancement to top management: The moderating effect of social support.” Global Bus. Manage. Res. 10 (1): 163–178.
King-Lewis, A., Y. Shan, and M. Ivey. 2021. “Gender bias and its impact on self-concept in undergraduate and graduate construction education programs in the United States.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 147 (11): 04021155. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0002189.
Koenig, A. M., and A. H. Eagly. 2014. “Evidence for the social role theory of stereotype content: Observations of groups’ roles shape stereotypes.” J. Personality Soc. Psychol. 107 (3): 371. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037215.
Leising, D., O. Ostrovski, and P. Borkenau. 2012. “Vocabulary for describing disliked persons is more differentiated than vocabulary for describing liked persons.” J. Res. Personality 46 (4): 393–396. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2012.03.006.
Li, L., A. Erfani, Y. Wang, and Q. Cui. 2021. “Anatomy into the battle of supporting or opposing reopening amid the COVID-19 pandemic on Twitter: A temporal and spatial analysis.” PLoS One 16 (7): e0254359. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254359.
Ling, F. Y., Z. Zhang, and S. Y. Tay. 2020. “Imposter syndrome and gender stereotypes: Female facility managers’ work outcomes and job situations.” J. Manage. Eng. 36 (5): 04020061. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000831.
Luo, L., L. Zhang, X. Zheng, and G. Wu. 2021. “A hybrid approach for investigating impacts of leadership dynamics on project performance.” Eng. Constr. Archit. Manage. 29 (5): 1965–1990. https://doi.org/10.1108/ECAM-02-2020-0094.
Mairesse, J., M. Pezzoni, and F. Visentin. 2020. “Does gender matter for promotion in science? Evidence from physicists in France.” Rev. Économique 71 (6): 1005–1043. https://doi.org/10.3917/reco.716.1005.
Manesh, S. N., J. O. Choi, B. K. Shrestha, J. Lim, and P. P. Shrestha. 2020. “Spatial analysis of the gender wage gap in architecture, civil engineering, and construction occupations in the United States.” J. Manage. Eng. 36 (4): 04020023. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000780.
Maurer, J. A., D. Choi, and H. Hur. 2021. “Building a diverse engineering and construction industry: Public and private sector retention of women in the civil engineering workforce.” J. Manage. Eng. 37 (4): 04021028. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000913.
Mikolov, T., I. Sutskever, K. Chen, G. S. Corrado, and J. Dean. 2013. “Distributed representations of words and phrases and their compositionality.” In Vol. 2 of Proc., 26th Int. Conf. on Neural Information Processing Systems (NPIS’13), 3111–3119. New York: Association for Computing Machinery.
Naoum, S. G., J. Harris, J. Rizzuto, and C. Egbu. 2020. “Gender in the construction industry: Literature review and comparative survey of men’s and women’s perceptions in UK construction consultancies.” J. Manage. Eng. 36 (2): 04019042. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000731.
Norberg, C., and M. Johansson. 2021. “‘Women and ‘ideal’ women: The representation of women in the construction industry.” Gender Issues 38 (1): 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12147-020-09257-0.
Odusami, K. T., R. R. O. Iyagba, and M. M. Omirin. 2003. “The relationship between project leadership, team composition and construction project performance in Nigeria.” Int. J. Project Manage. 21 (7): 519–527. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0263-7863(02)00059-5.
Oh, H. J., B. Ashuri, and S. M. Shahandashti. 2022. “Evolution of patterns in inclusion, diversity, equity, and accountability (IDEA) and race, ethnicity, and language (REAL) in construction job market using web scraping and text mining techniques.” EPiC Ser. Built Environ. 3 (May): 166–173. https://doi.org/10.29007/18gq.
Pan, Y., and L. Zhang. 2021. “Roles of artificial intelligence in construction engineering and management: A critical review and future trends.” Autom. Constr. 122 (Feb): 103517. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2020.103517.
Pariafsai, F., and A. H. Behzadan. 2021. “Core competencies for construction project management: Literature review and content analysis.” J. Civ. Eng. Educ. 147 (4): 04021010. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)EI.2643-9115.0000051.
Perrenoud, A. J., B. F. Bigelow, and E. M. Perkins. 2020. “Advancing women in construction: Gender differences in attraction and retention factors with managers in the electrical construction industry.” J. Manage. Eng. 36 (5): 04020043. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000808.
Pinto, J. K., P. Patanakul, and M. B. Pinto. 2017. “‘The aura of capability’: Gender bias in selection for a project manager job.” Int. J. Project Manage. 35 (3): 420–431. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2017.01.004.
Poleacovschi, C. 2018. “‘She is not an expert’: Gender myths reinforced among civil engineers.” In Proc., Construction Research Congress 2018, 160–167. Reston, VA: ASCE.
Poleacovschi, C., A. Javernick-Will, S. Wang, and T. Tong. 2021. “Gendered knowledge accessibility: Evaluating the role of gender in knowledge seeking among engineers in the US.” J. Manage. Eng. 37 (1): 04020094. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000865.
Rudman, L. A., C. A. Moss-Racusin, J. E. Phelan, and S. Nauts. 2012. “Status incongruity and backlash effects: Defending the gender hierarchy motivates prejudice against female leaders.” J. Exp. Social Psychol. 48 (1): 165–179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2011.10.008.
Rui, J. R. 2018. “Objective evaluation or collective self-presentation: What people expect of LinkedIn recommendations.” Comput. Hum. Behav. 89 (Mar): 121–128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.07.025.
Schneider, A. K., C. H. Tinsley, S. Cheldelin, and E. T. Amanatullah. 2010. “Likeability v. competence: The impossible choice faced by female politicians, attenuated by lawyers.” Duke J. Gender L. Pol’y 17 (Apr): 363–384.
Schneider, M. C., and A. L. Bos. 2019. “The application of social role theory to the study of gender in politics.” Political Psychol. 40 (Aug): 173–213. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12573.
Smith, D. G., J. E. Rosenstein, M. C. Nikolov, and D. A. Chaney. 2019. “The power of language: Gender, status, and agency in performance evaluations.” Sex Roles 80 (3): 159–171. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-018-0923-7.
Smith, N. E., S. B. Costello, and S. Chowdhury. 2022. “Achieving gender balance in engineering: Examining the reasons for women’s intent to leave the profession.” J. Manage. Eng. 38 (4): 04022035. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0001057.
Sunindijo, R. Y., and I. Kamardeen. 2017. “Work stress is a threat to gender diversity in the construction industry.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 143 (10): 04017073. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0001387.
Takey, S. M., and M. M. de Carvalho. 2015. “Competency mapping in project management: An action research study in an engineering company.” Int. J. Project Manage. 33 (4): 784–796. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2014.10.013.
Van Engen, M. L., and T. M. Willemsen. 2004. “Sex and leadership styles: A meta-analysis of research published in the 1990s.” Psychol. Rep. 94 (1): 3–18. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.94.1.3-18.
Yan, H., N. Yang, Y. Peng, and Y. Ren. 2020. “Data mining in the construction industry: Present status, opportunities, and future trends.” Autom. Constr. 119 (Nov): 103331. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2020.103331.
Yang, L. R., C. F. Huang, and K. S. Wu. 2011. “The association among project manager’s leadership style, teamwork and project success.” Int. J. Project Manage. 29 (3): 258–267. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2010.03.006.
Zhang, L., T. Cao, and Y. Wang. 2018. “The mediation role of leadership styles in integrated project collaboration: An emotional intelligence perspective.” Int. J. Project Manage. 36 (2): 317–330. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2017.08.014.
Zhang, R. P., S. Holdsworth, M. Turner, and M. M. Andamon. 2021. “Does gender really matter? A closer look at early career women in construction.” Construct. Manage. Econ. 39 (8): 669–686. https://doi.org/10.1080/01446193.2021.1948087.
Zheng, J., and M. Qiang. 2022. “Understanding the changes in construction project managers’ competences through resume data mining.” J. Civ. Eng. Manage. 28 (4): 305–319. https://doi.org/10.3846/jcem.2022.16579.
Zheng, J., Q. Wen, and M. Qiang. 2020. “Understanding demand for project manager competences in the construction industry: Data mining approach.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 146 (8): 04020083. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0001865.
Zheng, W., R. Kark, and A. L. Meister. 2018. “Paradox versus dilemma mindset: A theory of how women leaders navigate the tensions between agency and communion.” Leadersh. Q. 29 (5): 584–596. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2018.04.001.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 7, 2022
Accepted: Jan 17, 2023
Published online: Mar 9, 2023
Published in print: May 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Aug 9, 2023
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Business management
- Construction engineering
- Construction industry
- Construction management
- Data collection
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering profession
- Methodology (by type)
- Model accuracy
- Models (by type)
- Practice and Profession
- Professional development
- Research methods (by type)
- Social network
- Women engineers
- Workplace diversity
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.
Cited by
- Abdolmajid Erfani, Ali Mansoori, Shoib Khan, Unconscious Bias in Self-Presentation: Exploring Gender Disparities in Leadership within the Transportation Industry, International Conference on Transportation and Development 2024, 10.1061/9780784485521.040, (441-452), (2024).
- Abdolmajid Erfani, Jina Mahmoudi, Qingbin Cui, Measuring Social Equity in Pavement Conditions Using Big Data, Construction Research Congress 2024, 10.1061/9780784485262.003, (23-32), (2024).