Women Behind the Wheel: A grounded theory study about attracting young women to the trucking industry
(2024) SMMM40 20241Department of Service Studies
- Abstract
- Purpose: The trucking industry is growing due the rise of e-commerce, which has led to increase in demand for drivers. To address this demand, the industry seeks strategies to attract more qualified drivers. Recognizing the benefits of employing women as drivers, there's a collective effort to encourage women participation. In Sweden, there is a growing interest among young women to become truck drivers. Hence, this study aims to delve into the motivations and perspectives of young women in choosing a career within trucking in the context of Sweden. By comprehending the key factors in attracting more young women, the study aims to offer insights that can guide the efforts to increase the representation of women in the trucking industry.
... (More) - Purpose: The trucking industry is growing due the rise of e-commerce, which has led to increase in demand for drivers. To address this demand, the industry seeks strategies to attract more qualified drivers. Recognizing the benefits of employing women as drivers, there's a collective effort to encourage women participation. In Sweden, there is a growing interest among young women to become truck drivers. Hence, this study aims to delve into the motivations and perspectives of young women in choosing a career within trucking in the context of Sweden. By comprehending the key factors in attracting more young women, the study aims to offer insights that can guide the efforts to increase the representation of women in the trucking industry.
Research question: What are the key factors in attracting more young women to the trucking industry in context to Sweden?
Methodology: To understand the important factors drawing young women to the trucking industry, we adopted a constructivist grounded theory approach. This approach emphasizes the significance of researchers' experiences in shaping the investigation. Thoughtful attention was given to the sampling technique to select suitable interviewees. Through intensive interviews, detailed descriptions were gathered of the experiences within the industry. Thereafter, coding techniques were employed that facilitated synthesis and analysis of the gathered data.
Findings: The research findings of the study resonated well with Maslow's hierarchy of needs, establishing it as a suitable theoretical model to structure both the results and analysis chapter. The study revealed a range of factors categorized through the chosen model, thereby providing a thorough understanding of the key motivational factors. Interestingly, higher-level needs like love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization emerged as more influential in attracting young women to the industry, with a greater number of associated factors compared to
lower-level needs like safety and physiological needs. These findings highlight the significance of addressing higher-level needs aimed at increasing representation of women in the trucking industry in the context of Sweden, offering valuable insights for future initiatives.
Conclusions: This thesis offers significant contributions to research, managerial, and societal implications. From a managerial standpoint, the key factors identified can guide haulage companies and high school programmes in making more efforts to attract young women to the industry. Furthermore, the conclusion chapter underscores the research limitations inherent in the chosen sampling technique and the utilization of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Finally, the future research directions are outlined, paving the way for numerous opportunities within the field. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9170735
- author
- Ovhagen, Hanna LU and Arora, Apoorva
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- SMMM40 20241
- year
- 2024
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- trucking industry, driver shortage, women in blue-collar jobs, grounded theory, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
- language
- English
- id
- 9170735
- date added to LUP
- 2024-08-05 14:20:59
- date last changed
- 2024-08-05 14:20:59
@misc{9170735,
abstract = {{Purpose: The trucking industry is growing due the rise of e-commerce, which has led to increase in demand for drivers. To address this demand, the industry seeks strategies to attract more qualified drivers. Recognizing the benefits of employing women as drivers, there's a collective effort to encourage women participation. In Sweden, there is a growing interest among young women to become truck drivers. Hence, this study aims to delve into the motivations and perspectives of young women in choosing a career within trucking in the context of Sweden. By comprehending the key factors in attracting more young women, the study aims to offer insights that can guide the efforts to increase the representation of women in the trucking industry.
Research question: What are the key factors in attracting more young women to the trucking industry in context to Sweden?
Methodology: To understand the important factors drawing young women to the trucking industry, we adopted a constructivist grounded theory approach. This approach emphasizes the significance of researchers' experiences in shaping the investigation. Thoughtful attention was given to the sampling technique to select suitable interviewees. Through intensive interviews, detailed descriptions were gathered of the experiences within the industry. Thereafter, coding techniques were employed that facilitated synthesis and analysis of the gathered data.
Findings: The research findings of the study resonated well with Maslow's hierarchy of needs, establishing it as a suitable theoretical model to structure both the results and analysis chapter. The study revealed a range of factors categorized through the chosen model, thereby providing a thorough understanding of the key motivational factors. Interestingly, higher-level needs like love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization emerged as more influential in attracting young women to the industry, with a greater number of associated factors compared to
lower-level needs like safety and physiological needs. These findings highlight the significance of addressing higher-level needs aimed at increasing representation of women in the trucking industry in the context of Sweden, offering valuable insights for future initiatives.
Conclusions: This thesis offers significant contributions to research, managerial, and societal implications. From a managerial standpoint, the key factors identified can guide haulage companies and high school programmes in making more efforts to attract young women to the industry. Furthermore, the conclusion chapter underscores the research limitations inherent in the chosen sampling technique and the utilization of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Finally, the future research directions are outlined, paving the way for numerous opportunities within the field.}},
author = {{Ovhagen, Hanna and Arora, Apoorva}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Women Behind the Wheel: A grounded theory study about attracting young women to the trucking industry}},
year = {{2024}},
}