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Creators/Authors contains: "Eshun, Philippa"

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  1. The supply of civil engineering graduates has yet to meet the demand of civil engineering industries within the United States [1]. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicted a 7 percent growth within the 2021-2031 decade with about 24,200 job openings available each year [2], but only an estimated 21,561 civil engineering degrees were awarded in the U.S. in 2020 [3]. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in employees quitting their jobs at higher rates than ever historically recorded [4]; this has been further observed in the civil engineering industry [5]. A research survey conducted by the Future World Vision showed that employees with less work experience (5 years or less) were most likely to resign from their positions and the civil engineering profession entirely [6]. Previous studies have examined engineering graduates’ retention in their professions as subsets of individual values and circumstance. However, there is limited research analyzing the overarching organizational culture of engineering colleges that may influence the expectations and outcomes of engineering graduates in industry. Organizational culture describes the customs and values unique to an organization [7, pp. 565]. These aspects of organizations can encourage or inhibit organizational success. Schönborn found that “there [were] specific sets of attitudes, values, and artifacts that differentiate[d] successful from unsuccessful companies” [8]. This work-in-progress expands on Schönborn’s findings in hypothesizing that there are specific cultural norms and values adopted by students in engineering colleges that differ from those of engineering industries, and those differences may affect if and how early career engineers successfully transition to engineering careers. 
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