Spitzmueller, Christiane2022-12-292022-12-29May 20222022-05-02https://hdl.handle.net/10657/13151Gender discrimination in the workplace is a prevalent issue due to its incidence and detrimental outcomes to both organizations and individuals. Gender discrimination is particularly relevant in STEM fields that have struggled to increase female representation. While past research has examined the relationship between gender discrimination and negative job attitudes, the potential impact for gender discrimination on career attitudes remains unexplored. Building on previous literature and using affective events theory (AET), stressor strain theory, and relative deprivation theory (RDT) I propose that direct or indirect exposure to gender discrimination in the workplace produces negative job attitudes which lead to a decrease in career optimism. I also suggest that gender will moderate the relationship between observing or experiencing gender discrimination and career optimism. Results support a relationship between experiencing and observing gender discrimination with career optimism. Gender was not found to moderate this relationship. Methodological limitations are discussed as well as applications to future research.application/pdfengThe author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s).Gender DiscriminationCareer Optimism2022-12-29Thesisborn digital