Katie Brown and Anna Mountford-Zimdars
The purpose of this study is twofold: to make explicit academics’ tacit knowledge of academic employment and to develop the educational research and employability skills of 12…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is twofold: to make explicit academics’ tacit knowledge of academic employment and to develop the educational research and employability skills of 12 postgraduate researchers.
Design/methodology/approach
Twelve postgraduate researchers from ten different disciplines conducted 24 semi-structured interviews (12 with early career academics, 12 with senior academics). Respondents shared the skills, experiences and attributes sought when hiring and their lived experience of being academics.
Findings
The importance given to both explicitly stated (publications, teaching experience) and implicit (values, behaviour) factors varies greatly among individual academics. There is a mismatch between stated job requirements and the realities of academic life. A students-as-partners project fosters critical engagement with these questions and offers other benefits to participants.
Research limitations/implications
Most respondents work at one research-intensive English institution, potentially limiting generalisability to teaching-led and international institutions.
Practical/implications
Researcher development programmes should make explicit the range of factors considered in hiring while also encouraging critical engagement with the realities of academic work. Through students-as-partners projects, postgraduate research students can uncover first-hand what academic life is like and what hiring committees are looking for.
Originality/value
Through involving students-as-partners, the research question changed to reflect the actual concerns of those contemplating an academic career. Students gained invaluable awareness of academic hiring and insights into academic life, as well as transferable skills.
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Audrey Harroche and Christine Musselin
The French higher education system has experienced reforms since the 2000s that gradually emphasized the executive power of universities and the centralization of decision-making…
Abstract
The French higher education system has experienced reforms since the 2000s that gradually emphasized the executive power of universities and the centralization of decision-making. This culminated with the excellence initiatives (Idex) that concentrated 7.7 billion euros on only nine institutions to create “world-class” universities and made their leaders responsible for the local allocation of this substantial endowment. The universities’ executives had four years to complete changes in governance in order to see their institution permanently awarded the title and the funding of Idex. The hiring process is one of the elements that this policy impacted the most within these universities, enabling leaders to create new kinds of positions and control the hiring process. However, by looking at the hiring practices within three different Idex, we will show that collegiality did not disappear but rather it evolved: in the three cases, the closest colleagues have been marginalized but decision-making remained collective and in the hands of academics chosen by the university executives. Variations in the intensity of this evolution could be observed according to two dimensions. First, the scientific reputation of the university: the higher it is, the less collegiality is transformed. Second, the level of external pressures: the less collegial universities have relaxed their hiring practices after the evaluation that permanently granted them the label of Idex.
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Jill Allen, Jessi L. Smith and Lynda B. Ransdell
As universities grapple with broadening participation of women in science, many ADVANCE funded institutions hone in on transforming search committee practices to better consider…
Abstract
Purpose
As universities grapple with broadening participation of women in science, many ADVANCE funded institutions hone in on transforming search committee practices to better consider dual-career partners and affirmative action hires (“opportunity hires”). To date, there is a lack of empirical research on the consequences and processes underlying such a focus. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether and how two ADVANCE-recommended hiring practices, dual-career hiring and affirmative action hiring, help or hinder women’s participation in academic science.
Design/methodology/approach
In two experiments, the authors tested what happens to a science candidate’s evaluation and offer when that candidate reveals he or she has a dual-career partner (vs is a solo-candidate, Experiment 1) or if it is revealed that the candidate under review is the dual-hire partner or is a target of opportunity hire (vs primary candidate, Experiment 2). A random US national sample of academic scientists provided anonymous external recommendations to an ostensible faculty search committee.
Findings
Evaluators supported the job offer to a primary candidate requiring a heterosexual partner accommodation. This good news, however, was offset by the results of Experiment 2, which showed that support for the partner or affirmative action candidate depended on the evaluator’s gender. Taken together, the research identifies important personal and contextual features that sometimes do – and sometimes do not – impact hiring perceptions of women in science.
Originality/value
The authors believe the effects of such an emphasis on opportunity hires within ADVANCE funded institutions may be considerable and inform changes to policies and practices that help bring about gender equality.
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Kamil Luczaj and Olga Kurek-Ochmanska
The purpose of this paper is to uncover the basic motivations of the administrators (referred to also as “managers”) to hire foreign-born employees in the academic system, which…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to uncover the basic motivations of the administrators (referred to also as “managers”) to hire foreign-born employees in the academic system, which is relatively ethnically homogenous and where the proficiency in Polish is still a strong asset. By doing this, the authors make an attempt to theorise the value of internationalisation of higher education in the academic peripheries.
Design/methodology/approach
This study reports the finding of 20 qualitative interviews with the deans and other senior academic officials serving managerial functions at Polish public and private universities.
Findings
The four basic motivations expressed directly by the mangers were (1) the crave for cultural diversity, (2) willingness to “Westernize” the academe, (3) a need for academic achievement and (4) staff shortages. In the discussion, the authors show, however, that the discursive order of these institutional motivations to hire international faculty is incompatible with motivations of international faculty to seek employment in Poland and statistical data regarding their concentration in different academic centres.
Originality/value
The paper tackles crucial issues regarding staffing (including recruitment and retention) and diversity hiring in a country with an “emigration culture”, similar to other East European states, namely a place from which highly skilled workers emigrate. A relocation to Poland is a rather unusual reverse migration, or “stepping down”, to a periphery to use it as a possible stepping stone for career progression.
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Academic inbreeding, whereby universities select their academic staff from among their own graduates, is a prevalent practice worldwide. This chapter presents a review of academic…
Abstract
Academic inbreeding, whereby universities select their academic staff from among their own graduates, is a prevalent practice worldwide. This chapter presents a review of academic inbreeding research and discusses its relevance to leadership. The definition of academic inbreeding is examined, including its rationale and conceptualization. Then, the mechanisms through which academic inbreeding comes to be and the mechanisms that sustain the practice are presented and elaborated upon. Empirical evidence about the effects of academic inbreeding on scholarly practices is considered. Considering that the effects of academic inbreeding tend to be mostly detrimental to a university which aims to be creative, proactive, engaged with external communities, and producing knowledge with the highest levels of quality, policies to deal with this phenomenon are needed. Leadership in this context faces often difficult challenges since the curtailing of academic inbreeding is necessary but often deeply entrenched in traditions, culture and norms, habitus and power structures of the universities.
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Andrea Harrow, Karin Saric, Annie M. Thompson and Hannah M. Schilperoort
Society is experiencing the psychological impact of collective trauma. The COVID-19 pandemic, social injustice, and political unrest due to racial, sexual, gender identity…
Abstract
Society is experiencing the psychological impact of collective trauma. The COVID-19 pandemic, social injustice, and political unrest due to racial, sexual, gender identity, economic, climate, and environmental injustices have contributed to a rise in demand for mental health support and services in the United States. In addition to recent collective events, many individuals have also experienced complex trauma throughout their lives. People with traumatic experiences appear in day-to-day life as coworkers, students and patrons of systems and spaces, including libraries and universities. For library leaders, this informs the need for a consistent empathetic approach and response to interactions toward all who inhabit library spaces. It also creates an imperative for institutions to move forward with implementing a trauma-informed approach that addresses the needs of both library patrons and employees.
Library leadership should already be working toward more inclusive practices to attract greater diversity in their workforce. Introducing trauma-informed approaches builds on this work of respect for identity diversity with the other guiding principles of safety, trust, support, collaboration, and empowerment. Relevant frameworks, tools, and resources focused on implementing a trauma-informed approach to library workforce recruitment, onboarding, and retention are reviewed and summarized.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore the development and challenges of doctoral education in Korea. In particular, it focusses on the differences between overseas and domestic…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the development and challenges of doctoral education in Korea. In particular, it focusses on the differences between overseas and domestic doctorates in terms of training, supply and demand in the academic workforce, their academic entry-level jobs and employment status.
Design/methodology/approach
This study applied document analysis to mainly secondary data sources. The data were drawn from the Statistical Yearbooks of Education, Annual Science and Technology Statistics, the Database for Overseas Doctorates Registration and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Findings
The findings indicate that the doctoral education system in Korea, in terms of both size and quality, has demonstrated significant development for last four decades. However, the results also show that overseas doctorates have relative advantages for their academic job entry over domestic doctorates, and the major research universities are more likely to hire those with overseas doctorates than domestic doctorates.
Originality/value
This study presents the evolution of the doctoral education system in Korea, which has not yet been considered in the international research.
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Sunyoung Park and Shinhee Jeong
The purpose of this study is to review how international female faculty experience linguistic challenges and bias in their US university careers.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to review how international female faculty experience linguistic challenges and bias in their US university careers.
Design/methodology/approach
By reviewing related literature, the authors explore the career challenges of international female faculty including hiring, promotion and tenure and leadership opportunities from a linguistic profiling perspective.
Findings
International female faculty have relatively few hiring opportunities, specifically when institutions and fields openly accept linguistic profiling and bias and are less likely to hire non-native English-speaking international faculty. In the promotion and tenure process, international female faculty have struggled with standard academic English criteria and poor teaching evaluations from students because of the faculty’s different English usage such as word choice, grammar and pragmatics. In terms of leadership opportunities, international female professors have faced linguistic bias that non-native English faculty members are not competent, credible, intelligent or skilled because they speak accented English.
Originality/value
This study can help researchers and career development practitioners by adding linguistic profiling specific diversity and inclusion perspectives to existing literature. The findings expand the perspectives and practices related to the career challenges of international female faculty due to linguistic profiling.
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Michael Gallivan and Raquel Benbunan‐Finch
The paper seeks to provide a structured review of the literature on gender and scholarly career outcomes in the social sciences and discuss its relevance to research on IS…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper seeks to provide a structured review of the literature on gender and scholarly career outcomes in the social sciences and discuss its relevance to research on IS scholarship, in order to guide researchers who seek to conduct studies on the role of gender in academic IS careers.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors review the literature to identify all published studies that compare (or theorize about) various academic career outcomes for men and women in the social sciences.
Findings
In comparing the literature from the IS field with other social science disciplines, the authors conclude that gender has been entirely overlooked in studies of IS scholars' publication patterns and other career outcomes. Propositions are developed for researchers in order to guide future studies that examine the relationship between gender and academic career outcomes.
Research limitations/implications
The paper focuses on studies that compare research productivity and other career outcomes for men and women in social science disciplines. Studies in other disciplines such as engineering, physical sciences, arts and humanities, are omitted. Studies that focus on women only or studies that examine the general antecedents to scholarly outcomes but which ignore gender are also excluded.
Practical implications
This paper seeks to open up a discussion of gender as a valid issue for investigation regarding career outcomes for IS scholars. The authors seek to motivate other researchers to examine whether women are achieving parity in the IS academic field.
Originality/value
This paper provides a comprehensive, structured literature review to systematically study whether gender plays a role in research productivity and other career outcomes for IS scholars.
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This paper aims to investigate and comment critically on the influence that an observable career requirement for marketing academics, the PhD, has on their teaching, their…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate and comment critically on the influence that an observable career requirement for marketing academics, the PhD, has on their teaching, their research, and the much‐debated “gap” between marketing academics and marketing practitioners.
Design/methodology/approach
A review of the literature and of secondary sources of general data is combined with the author's own past research findings to arrive at a coherent, personal point of view.
Findings
A strong focus on “scientific” research in the marketing discipline has caused a form of academic myopia, and precipitated a debate on the role of research in business schools, somewhat belatedly. The conclusion in this paper is that academic research skills, and doctoral study in particular, are not a de facto prerequisite for effective teaching of an applied discipline to future practitioners. The PhD is not necessarily the good predictor of future publication that it is assumed to be. The research output of doctoral researchers, typically with little or no business, is seen as irrelevant by business, contributing to the academic‐practitioner divide.
Practical implications
The findings link current recruitment policies with future performance, and rekindle the debate on the pernicious role of the PhD in marketing education.
Originality/value
The author dares to question the research foundations on which modern universities have built themselves, and the role of doctoral research in the transmission of knowledge from business schools to business.