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International Journal of
Population Studies Malaysian women in logistics: Stay or switch?

1. Introduction introduce work-life balance as a moderator in the research
model. Besides variables representing the SDT, job
Advancement in technology has made the logistics satisfaction and family supervisory support behavior are
industry attractive not only for men but also for women included as additional predictors to enhance the predictive
who start to play a role in this field. The logistics industry power of the model. This is a novel approach as there is a
is labeled as a male-dominated industry and is not seen scarcity of studies where work-life balance is employed as
as women-friendly due to several factors. These include a moderator in the SDT to explain the intention to stay
dirtiness, high physical requirements (Maloni et al., 2019), in the logistics industry. Furthermore, since the logistics
and the limited number of women who elect to pursue industry is colossal and different from other industries, it
a career in this industry. Although it was demonstrated
that women have equivalent competencies as men in the is crucial to conduct a study based on women’s perception
logistics industry (Vo et al., 2023), this industry suffers of this industry. Moreover, as the purpose of the study is
to prevent women from leaving this field, it is pertinent to
from a gender bias as women represent only 35% of the unearth the factors influencing them to stay.
workforce. Moreover, they receive lower pay and suffer
from a lack of career progress (Maloni et al., 2019a; Nix & It is vital to discover factors that promote awareness among
Stifler, 2016). logistics companies in Malaysia to address women’s issue in

Despite multiple challenges such as hardship (Vo et al., the logistics industry. Besides contributing to the body of
2023), gender inequalities, lack of opportunities to reach knowledge, this study benefits the logistics industry which
top management positions (Zinn et al., 2018), lower salaries is challenged by turnover problems in various ways. One
(Ruel & Jaegler, 2021), the number of women in logistics of these, which is extremely important for human resource
industries increases on a yearly basis. The percentage of management in the logistics industry, is to understand the
women in the industry was 36% in 2016 and reached 41% factors that could influence the intention of women to stay in
in 2021 (Gartner, 2021). The nature of the industry and the logistics industry. By identifying the predictors, human
the global supply chain requires round the clock working resource departments could address the intention to leave
hours. This is at odds with the Malaysian traditional this industry by crafting better policies supporting their
family-centered role of women which affects their work- requirements. The study provides a foundation to reduce the
life balance (Nix & Stifler, 2016) and creates conflicts prevalence of retention issues and decrease the number of
within their home environments (Maloni et al., 2019). talented employees leaving their work in the logistics field.
In the Malaysian setting, women have more obligations 1.1. Literature review
regarding family roles than men. These include taking
care of household work, raising children, and other tasks 1.1.1. Self-determination theory
related to the family. Meanwhile, men are more concerned The self-determination theory (SDT) developed by Ryan &
with the financial burden and house-hold requirements Deci (2017) is a macro theory of human motivation that
(Malaysia Population Research Hub, 2023). Although most is successfully applied across domains including parenting,
women tend to choose their family over their career in the education, healthcare, sports and physical activity,
logistics industry, statistics highlight a different situation, psychotherapy, and virtual worlds, as well as in the fields
suggesting that studies are required to unearth factors of work motivation and management. The SDT specifically
influencing the retention among women in logistics. Most suggests that both employees’ performance, well-being, and
studies are focused on factors influencing the intention to future behavior are affected by the type of motivation they
stay or turnover intention in general, but there is a lack have in their job activities (Deci et al., 2017). The theory
of research focusing on women in the logistics industry. is centered on two types of motivation that influence
Furthermore, only a handful of publications had women employees’ goals in their work setting. First, intrinsic
at their core (Hazeen Fathima & Umarani, 2023; Kuvaas motivation relates to employees’ actions as inherently
et al., 2017; Maloni et al., 2019; Ruel & Fritz, 2021), thus interesting or pleasurable. Second, extrinsic motivation
resulting in a lack of understanding on their behavior in relates to external factors which produce different outcomes
the logistics industry (Azlin et al., 2023), especially in (Deci & Ryan, 2000). The SDT theory, commonly used to
term of their work-life balance through the lens of the self- determine human need, is widely employed across the field
determination theory (SDT). to predict employees’ intention to leave.

Hence, to fill the gap in the literature, the researchers
identify in the current study the factors that influence the 1.1.2. Intention to stay
intention to continue to commit among women in the Continuance of commitment or the intention to stay refers
logistics industry in Malaysia using the SDT theory and to the assumption or the likelihood of individuals staying

Volume 11 Issue 1 (2025) 93 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.1700