Knowledge or science-based economy? The employment of UK PhD graduates in research roles beyond academia

Occupational choice, satisfaction and success of PhD graduates in East Asia and the West: A systematic review

“…Furthermore, the analysis could have been enhanced by adopting more finely grained units of analysis than current analytical framework, especially given the diverse types of evidence encompassing qualitative, quantitative and theoretical data in the selected papers. This is consistent with calls made by other researchers for structured and internationally comparable datasets, ideally longitudinal ones (Hancock, 2023;Neumann & Tan, 2011;Walters et al, 2021).…”

“…In accordance with the four dimensions of our analytic framework, findings about the occupational choice-making process centre on the interplay between structure and agency, with the former mainly represented by labour market conditions within and beyond academia, whereas the latter by job-seeking activities of doctorates. Then, findings on occupational outcomes from the selected papers are categorised into the conventional binary (Hancock, 2023) of academic and non-academic sectors, outlining distinctive patterns from East Asia and the West. Finally, findings in relation to occupational satisfaction are reported against objective indicators of salary and contract types, while insights on occupational success are presented by subjectively perceived concepts of overskilling and skill (mis)matches, with due consideration given to sociocultural differences whenever pertinent.…”

“…While occupational satisfaction in the immediate terms is undeniably important, doctorates seemed to place greater importance on the alignment between skills required for their job tasks and the skills they acquired during doctoral training. It is widely established that doctorates on research roles, both within and beyond academia, report higher occupational success (Hancock, 2023;Sinche et al, 2017;Waaijer et al, 2017). This challenges the policy views based on the deficit model within doctoral education and calls for more participation from employers to create a 'PhD-ready industry' that can effectively absorb these doctoral professionals (Cuthbert & Molla, 2015, p. 49).…”

“…Under the KBE framework, PhD graduates are portrayed as pillars of socioeconomic development and their research expertise is expected to benefit the wider society beyond academia, justifying the substantial investment in doctoral education by governments (Hancock, 2023). However, not all systems adhere to this ideal paradigm.…”

“…The changing employment landscape of this highly skilled workforce has been explored by a plethora of research (Auriol, 2007;Auriol et al, 2013;Cruz-Castro & Sanz-Menéndez, 2005;Hancock, 2023;McAlpine, 2020;Recotillet, 2007;Spronken-Smith et al, 2022). However, most of existing studies revolved around the diversifying labour market outcomes of PhD graduates, with limited attention spared to their employment process.…”