Engineering graduates’ experiences of career progression after participating in graduate development programmes

Abstract

This multiple case study critically investigates the career progression of engineering graduates following their participation in Graduate Development Programmes (GDPs) within the unique context of South Africa. It draws on Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) as its guiding conceptual framework, facilitating a structured understanding of how self-efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations, personal goals, and contextual influences shape early-career development within engineering contexts. To establish a robust theoretical foundation for the study, a systematised review was conducted. This review systematically evaluated the applicability of SCCT within the context of both GDPs and subsequent post-GDP career experiences. Findings from this review highlighted how GDPs serve as an institutionalised mechanism for fostering self-efficacy, enabling goal setting, and shaping career outcome expectations, all central to SCCT’s explanatory framework. Critically, the review also identified significant gaps in existing literature, including limited research on the long-term influence of SCCT in the post-GDP phase, its underexplored intersection with socio-demographic variables like race and gender, and its role in the development of essential soft skills. Building upon these insights, the study developed a specific conceptual framework that explicitly integrates key influencing factors. This framework maps the interplay between personal characteristics (such as race, gender, age, economic background, and language), organisational influences (including culture, leadership practices, and mentoring structures), and external disruptions (such as the COVID-19 pandemic and broader economic instability). It posits how these dynamic factors collectively shape individuals' self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and personal goals, which in turn drive targeted career actions and ultimately influence diverse career progression pathways. The empirical basis of this research lies in in-depth qualitative interviews conducted with a diverse cohort of 25 early-career engineers in South Africa who successfully completed GDPs and are now navigating the complexities of professional integration. A deductive thematic analysis, rigorously anchored in SCCT constructs, was employed to examine how participants made meaning of their GDP and subsequent workplace experiences, and how these influenced their skills development, career clarity, and strategic career behaviours. The findings highlight the pivotal role of post-GDP learning experiences, including challenging projects, mentorship, formal training, feedback, and coaching, in facilitating mastery experiences and significantly enhancing professional self-efficacy among early-career engineers. These experiences also positively shaped career outcome expectations, leading participants to anticipate greater success in their professional endeavours and actively influencing their goal setting. The research confirms that engineers with higher self-efficacy are more likely to set ambitious and well-structured goals, which then drive proactive career actions such as pursuing promotions, seeking leadership roles, and acquiring advanced skills. Furthermore, mentorship, organisational support, and access to continuous learning opportunities consistently emerged as critical enablers of career advancement, fostering a crucial sense of purpose and direction. Crucially, the study also illuminates how race, gender, institutional dynamics, and socio-economic context profoundly intersect with and often constrain career development processes in post-GDP transitions within the South African engineering sector. Participants frequently recounted facing identity-based barriers that hindered their progression, emphasising that career development is not purely self-determined but is significantly mediated by deeply ingrained systemic inequalities. The COVID-19 pandemic, acting as a significant career shock, forced many engineers to re-evaluate their aspirations and adapt to new, often precarious, labour market realities.By providing theoretically grounded and contextually detailed insights, this research makes several significant contributions. Theoretically, it extends SCCT’s applicability to the underexplored post-GDP career phase, incorporating the influence of socio-cultural, organisational, and structural dynamics into understanding early-career development, challenging assumptions of linear progression, and addressing the theory's underdeveloped engagement with systemic inequality. Empirically, it offers a richly textured, locally grounded account of the post-GDP phase in South Africa, documenting how macro-level disruptions and social identity profoundly shape engineers’ trajectories. Finally, the study offers actionable implications and recommendations for the refinement of GDPs and for various stakeholders, including employers, HR practitioners, professional bodies, higher education institutions, and government departments, aiming to foster more equitable, structured, and supportive early-career pathways for engineering graduates in a transforming society.