A cross-sectional analysis of career motivation: gender-specific differences among students of human medicine and psychology in Switzerland and Germany

Although women are over-represented in the higher educational fields of human medicine and psychology today, they are less frequently in leadership positions compared to their male counterparts. This raises questions about gender-specific differences in what is termed "career motivation" (CM), and whether CM preferences are already manifest during the time of higher education. CM is defined as a multidimensional construct on the individual’s drive to pursue and achieve professional goals, influencing job performance and satisfaction. The aim of this study was to examine gender differences in CM among students of human medicine and psychology in Switzerland and Germany, and to identify factors statistically associated with CM in women and men. This cross-sectional survey study investigated whether and how female and male (‘diverse’ was negligible in number) students of human medicine and psychology from Germany and Switzerland differ in their levels of CM. Additionally, we examined which influencing factors identified from the literature and a preliminary study were statistically associated with the CM of women and men. Based on these insights, a survey instrument was constructed following a structured validation process and distributed to students from both disciplines and countries. We received N = 530 responses, from which we included N = 373. No significant effect could be found related to career motivation between male and female students ( p = .06), descriptively, men showed slightly higher CM, but this was not interpreted as a statistically significant gender effect. A change in CM over the course of studies was not detected, neither for women and males nor across the groups. Results further show that particularly role models and mentors, networking, self-efficacy, and ambition were statistically associated with the CM of today’s female students. For male students, the idea of having power was statistically associated with CM. These findings open the question of how women can be specifically encouraged to engage in networks and establish relationships with mentors to increase their CM. Future studies should explore potential shifts in CM after graduation.