Leaving academia: why do doctoral graduates take up non-academic jobs and to what extent are they prepared?

Abstract

Purpose An increasing number of doctoral graduates are seeking non-academic employment. While statistics have revealed multiple aspects regarding the non-academic employment they hold, there is insufficient documentation of what has led them to leave academia and to what extent they are prepared for non-academic positions. This paper aims to address this gap and reports on five Chinese doctoral graduates’ reflections on their change in career choices. Design/methodology/approach This study is exploratory and follows the approach of qualitative multi-case studies. The data includes in-depth interviews with five Chinese doctoral graduates and their responses to a survey. The paper applies a theoretical perspective drawing from protean career and boundaryless career theories, focusing on the participants’ agency in managing career choices and their meaning making of career decision-making. Findings The study has found that, besides the factors mentioned in the literature, such as lack of academic positions, pressure related to academic work and lack of career planning, some participants were directed by their intrinsic values, and agency plays an important role in their career preparation. Practical implications The study makes recommendations on university career guidance for doctoral students. Originality/value This paper documents why and how doctoral students change their career choices, which have not been sufficiently documented in the literature. As well, the theoretical perspective used provides an innovative way to interpret doctoral students' career decision-making.

The Effort-Reward-Imbalance Among PhD Students – A Qualitative Study

“…Furthermore, our study shed a different light on the socio-emotional, status-related, and financial rewards. While especially the financial situation of PhD students is often described as miserable (Chen, 2021;Hunter & Devine, 2016), our study implies that the perceived situation differs between different types of PhD. Whereas the financial situation of PhD students working at the university is perceived as unsatisfying, external PhD students often do not have a problem with their financial situation and future prospective as they are supported by a company and will go back to their company after finishing their doctoral degree.…”

“…By using both models, the study will not only contribute to a deeper understanding of the relationship between efforts and rewards, but could also address illness (Waight & Giordano, 2018) by helping to identify coping strategies that PhD students can use to handle stress and a potential mismatch between high efforts and low rewards. Last, the study could indicate how to improve PhD work conditions and reduce the increasing world trend of doctoral students leaving academia (Chen, 2021) by pointing out job crafting measures (Creed et al, 2020).…”

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

“…Confucianism (Pekerti, 2008), filial piety (Jin et al, 2009) and moral emphasis on harmony (Zhang & Chen, 2015)) on the career development of East Asians has been consistently confirmed, it would be erroneous to assume uncritically a universally shared value system across individuals within one cultural or ethnic group (Brown, 2002). For example, although early proponents (Granrose & Chua, 1996) of the values-based career theory cautioned against the integration of values-based and boundaryless career theories, emphasising the inclination among East Asians towards hierarchical career structures, recent research effectively dispelled these concerns and substantiated the combination of the two theories by demonstrating that East Asians could be boundaryless career pursuers (Chen, 2021;Pang, 2003) as well. Therefore, to enable analysis across different cultures, our analytical framework incorporates both the boundaryless career theory and the values-based career theory.…”

Through many doors at once: rethinking the multiverse of graduate student professional development

“…With more than half of recent doctoral graduates pursuing non-academic positions [57.8% of postgraduates with definite commitments; in Physical and Earth Sciences and Engineering, these numbers are much higher, 81.3% and 87.1%, respectively (National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, 2019)], the doctoral student pipeline has become a key focal point for research. From early metaphors of a “leaky” pipeline to more nuanced approaches such as the branching pipeline (Fuhrmann et al , 2011), career pathways (Gardner and Doore, 2020) and braided rivers (Batchelor et al , 2021), scholars have increasingly recognized the changing nature and purpose of doctoral education (Chen, 2021).…”