Intersectional Gaps in Self-Efficacy among Post-Graduate Students in International Renewable-Energy Programs: The Role of Maternal Employment

Abstract

Relatively little empirical research has analyzed the sources of students’ self-perceptions outside the US and Europe, and in new fields of study like renewable energy. This paper aims at filling this gap by identifying differences in self-efficacy levels of post-graduate students in Erasmus+ capacity-building programs on renewable energy in Argentinian and Guatemalan universities. We analyzed a sample of 43 students to test intersectional differences in self-efficacy, looking at students’ gender, country of origin, and maternal employment. Using the New General Self-Efficacy scale, we performed the t-test to compare mean differences in self-efficacy, and one-way and two-way ANOVA tests to check the consistency of the results. Our estimates did not show significant gender gaps in self-efficacy among renewable-energy post-graduate students, but they did uncover relevant country differences in mean self-efficacy levels, mainly due to differences in socio-economic indicators and gender norms between the two countries analyzed. Moreover, we found a mediating role of maternal employment in cross-country self-efficacy differences, whereas the characteristics of fathers appeared uninfluential. We conclude by stressing the importance of intersectional analysis in terms of country of origin, family backgrounds, and gender norms to increase knowledge about differences in self-efficacy of students.

Keywords

• self-efficacy in higher education
• gender gaps
• maternal employment
• Argentina
• Guatemala