Development of the Value Alignment and Adaptation Strategies (VAAS) Instrument

This work in progress research paper describes the development of the Value Alignment and Adaptation Strategies (VAAS) instrument. This survey has been designed to better understand how the personal and perceived workplace cultural values of early career engineers, and women in particular, relate to the behaviors they adopt at work (termed 'adaptation strategies'). Grounded in Schwartz's personal and cultural value theory, Berry's acculturation theory, and the literature on gender and persistence in engineering, the survey proposes three new constructs - Value Alignment, Value Orientation, and Adaptation Strategies (operationalized based on Berry's model as assimilation, integration, separation, and marginalization). The online instrument is being piloted in spring and summer 2019 to recent engineering alumni of a large, public southwestern university. Exploratory factor analysis and tests of reliability are being conducted using the pilot data to establish preliminary evidence of construct validity and internal consistency for each scale before deploying the survey to a larger alumni population. Findings using this survey have a potential to influence researchers, university and industry stakeholders, practicing engineers, and students, which may in turn lead to greater inclusivity within the engineering profession and better preparation of engineers for the workplace.