Download PDFOpen PDF in browserSense of Belonging and Construction Industry Experience: A Preliminary Exploration9 pages•Published: June 2, 2026AbstractA student’s perceived sense of belonging within a university community is a predictor of higher education degree attainment. As such, an increased understanding of the factors that support sense of belonging among students is important to increasing the number of university graduates in high-demand professions such as construction management. This manuscript focuses on differences in construction and construction education sense of belonging between undergraduate construction students with more than 480 hours (approximately 3 months) of construction industry work experience and undergraduate students with less than 480 hours of construction industry work experience. Overall, students with more than three months of construction work experience reported higher levels of sense of belonging than their less experienced peers. Preliminary results suggest that further research and analysis to understand the correlation between work experience and sense of belonging is warranted.Keyphrases: construction education, sense of belonging, work experience In: Wesley Collins, Anthony Perrenoud and John Posillico (editors). Proceedings of Associated Schools of Construction 62nd Annual International Conference, vol 7, pages 128-136.
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