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The purpose of this study was to examine the lived experiences of working mothers during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and assess their perceptions of the types of training opportunities that would help advance their careers as they navigated pandemic-related challenges.

In study 1, 53 participants responded to an online survey that included open-ended questions regarding the impact COVID-19 has had on their careers and desires they have for training to ameliorate these concerns. For study 2, 10 participants completed an interview that included open-ended questions regarding workplace changes and professional development/training opportunities since the pandemic.

Thematic analysis showed mothers facing several setbacks in their careers, including delays, loss of hours and wages, childcare stressors and strained or lost relationships with colleagues and supervisors. A small number of participants also reported some surprisingly positive experiences, such as a push toward career innovation. Participants reported little to no exposure to career development opportunities and expressed a desire for training for leadership and interpersonal connection in the workplace.

Although quantitative data have been helpful in identifying and quantifying growing gender gaps in work during the pandemic, the qualitative analyses the authors used highlight how recent difficulties encountered by working mothers risk a growing gender gap in work and career mobility as women in the leadership pipeline struggle with challenges. Further, the findings suggest ways that women in management can support the working mothers on their staff, including by suggesting ways additional training may address some concerns.

This paper aims to examine the link between the Big Five personality traits and self-efficacy for teamwork, positioning manifest needs as intervening variables. The primary purpose of the analyses is to further develop some of the key variables contributing to team performance.

Relationships were tested with conditional process analysis. The sample includes 315 students from a large university. Likert measures were used to operationalize survey items, which are based on existing scales in the literature.

Each of the Big Five dimensions are related to teamwork self-efficacy (TSE), with manifest needs having significant mediating effects. For example, conscientiousness displayed a positive relationship to TSE, with both the need for affiliation and the need for power acting as significant intervening variables. Such relationships for each personality dimension are discussed fully in the paper.

High functioning teams need members who share a level of self-efficacy for engaging in teamwork. Leaders who must form their teams may find it useful to consider TSE, and the individual attributes that contribute to this important construct. The authors’ examination of the roles of both personality and manifest needs should offer some essential tools for this objective.

This paper contributes to our understanding of the relationship between personality and TSE by investigating manifest needs as process variables.