Women in Supply Chain & Logistics Management: Undergraduates’ Perspectives

To ensure supply chains can withstand unforeseen challenges, modern businesses are seeking ways to make them more resilient and adaptable. One underrepresented group that can help to address these issues in supply chains is women. To promote supply chain and logistics careers among women, it is important to identify the perspectives of society on different supply chain and logistics fields. This study attempts to identify the Sri Lankan undergraduate perceptions about six supply chain and logistics occupational aspects. Relative Importance Index (RII) technique was adopted to perform the analysis. According to the analysis results, Warehouse Management was found to be the most critical field followed by Distribution Management and Production Management fields with reference to the six occupational aspects considered in this study. Supply chain analyst/ business analyst was found as the most favorable field with reference to the six occupational aspects considered in this study. Furthermore, fields such as research and development, customer services information systems management, and consultancy services were found to have more favorable behaviors. The results of this study will assist practitioners in the industry in determining the most important areas that need to change to improve gender diversity in the industry.