Document Type

Thesis

First Faculty Advisor

Dr. Kathryn Ostermeier

Second Faculty Advisor

Allison Butler

Keywords

all-female education; work outcomes; personality

Publisher

Bryant University

Rights Management

CC-BY-NC-ND

Abstract

This thesis is aimed at studying the long-term impact an all-female secondary education has on work outcomes. Most of the current research on an all-female education pertains to current secondary students or those who are in college. There are minimal studies that analyze if one’s educational environment has a long-term influence on their career. This study hypothesized that an all-female secondary education has a long-term impact on job satisfaction, job performance, and job engagement. This impact is manifested through the Big 5 personality traits of conscientiousness and extraversion, as well as the multifaceted personality trait Core Self Evaluation (CSE). While we know that a significant portion of traits are inherited, one’s environment also significantly impacts personality. Through the collection of survey data from females of both single gender and traditional educational backgrounds (n = 309), this study quantitatively analyzed the long-term impact of an all-female education on a student’s career. A multiple regression approach though the Preacher and Hayes (2004, 2008) process macro was used to test both the direct and indirect relationships in the model. Results indicated that while there was no significant relationship between all-female education and job satisfaction or job performance, an indirect relationship did exist with job engagement through the Big 5 personality trait extraversion. Supplementary analyses revealed that the means were significantly different (and higher) for job satisfaction, job performance, job engagement, and extraversion for the all-female educated sample when compared to the co-educated sample.

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