Support for new career academics: an integrated model for research intensive university business and management schools

Abstract

The aim of this article is to examine the general and discipline-specific support needed by academics new to the profession. The article takes a social process approach to the examination of the experiences of new academics. The approach taken is, therefore, qualitative in nature and centres around a series of semi-structured interviews, carried out with new academics and senior managers in two research-intensive business schools in the UK. The research suggests that there are four crucial dimensions to successful career support for new academics: managing expectations, career management, mentoring and professional development. Whilst it is important to offer good practice in each of these dimensions, the article argues that it is the relationship between them which determines the quality of career support offered. The article offers a number of original insights into this issue, and contributes to both the literature on career support for new academics and to practice with a conceptual model which may have applicability across a number of different settings.

Keywords:

• new career academics
• mentoring
• expectations
• career management
• professional development

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Business, Management, Accounting and Finance subject centre of the Higher Education Academy, who funded the research on which this article is based.