Gender Disparity and Self-Presentation on Social Media among AEC Industry Leaders

Abstract

Despite equivalent qualifications, experience, and degrees, women are underrepresented in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) leadership. Understanding the factors behind this is crucial for addressing the issue. Although recent studies have shed light on the influence of a male-dominated culture, systematic barriers, and unconscious biases in contributing to the underrepresentation of female leaders, there is a scarcity of studies addressing the sociopsychological theories underlying cultural expectations and norms that contribute to the gender gap in the AEC industry. Social psychology introduces the self-presentation theory, proposing that individuals actively shape their self-image and the impressions they convey to others. According to this theory, people strategically choose and present information about themselves to cultivate a positive impression. Hence, this theory posits that individuals belonging to a minority, under the pressure of cultural norms and expectations, align their self-presentation with the anticipated roles assigned to them. Our study employs a data-driven methodology that uses natural language processing to explore the gender self-presentation gap. We analyzed 2,800 publicly available LinkedIn profiles of leaders within the top engineering firms ranked based on gross revenue. Our analysis delves into how these leaders present themselves, sharing their biographies, skills, and capacity on social media platform, and contrasts this self-presentation with how their colleagues evaluate their skills through the recommendation section. The findings reveal a higher similarity, both semantically and textually, between received recommendations and the skills and biographies of female leaders. Female leaders tend to present their skills in a way that aligns with others’ expectations more than male counterparts. This study underscores the significance of addressing cultural norm biases as a pivotal step toward achieving increased gender equality within leadership roles.