Investigating PhDs’ early career occupational outcomes in Italy: individual motivations, role of supervisor and gender differences

Abstract

The paper examines how individual motivations, the role of the supervisor and gender influence the early career path of doctorate holders. We investigate PhD graduates’ occupational outcomes beyond academia in the framework of current literature on the oversupply of PhD holders and labor market constraints. Our analysis relies on two unique datasets. The first, at the national level, includes microdata from the Italian National Institute of Statistics regarding about 41,000 graduates who account for over 70% of the population of 6 cohorts surveyed for the period 2004–2014. The other dataset is from a single university, and resulted from an original survey of 760 PhD holders who earned their doctorates from the University of Turin in 2007–2017. We find that PhD holders’ motivation towards science is associated with their subsequent employment in academia or in other research and non-research jobs. Sponsoring support in early career and the supervisor’s propensity for basic research also play a role in the future academic career path. Gender differences in type of occupation, however, continue to persist even taking motivations and the supervisor’s role into account.

International doctoral students’ perspectives on the qualities of supervisors: Expectations for intercultural supervision in Portuguese higher education

“…who must assume multiple responsibilities that coexist with today’s extensive administrative, research, teaching and administrative responsibilities (Schneijderberg, 2021). Grounded on supervisors and candidates’ perspectives, research has been drawing links between supervision and students’ progression and degree completion rates (Martinsuo and Turkulainen, 2011), satisfaction (Dericks et al, 2019; Gruzdev et al, 2020), career development (Carriero et al, 2023; Pearson and Brew, 2002), inclusion in the research community and construction of researcher identity (Byram and Stoicheva, 2020; Foot et al, 2014).…”