Unravelling the implications of learning experiences on doctoral degree holders’ employment: empirical insights and avenues for further developments

ABSTRACT

Doctoral degree holders may struggle to find a job, even though they possess the highest level of education delivered by universities. Whilst learning experiences’ quality has been argued to affect the doctoral degree holders’ ability to get a job, little is known about the relationship between these dimensions. To shed light on this issue, the article investigated secondary data collected from the 2018 national survey on doctoral degree holders in Italy. The respondents’ ability to get a job four to six years after the achievement of their doctoral degree was examined. A multinomial polytomous logistic regression model was designed to obtain evidence of the relationship between the perceived quality of learning experiences and the doctoral degree holders’ ability to get a job. The enrichment of learning experiences with practice-oriented educational activities enhanced the PhDs’ ability to get a job. People who were dissatisfied with their relationship with academics were more likely to be unemployed. Tailored interventions are needed to augment the quality of learning experiences and to increase the PhDs’ ability to get a job. Educational services’ co-production and the involvement of business partners in co-designing educational services might contribute positively to the doctoral degree holders’ ability to get a job.

KEYWORDS:

• Doctoral education
• Employment
• Learning experiences
• PhD
• Satisfaction

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Only statistically significant confounding factors are reported in the table. The full list of confounding factors includes: gender; age at the time of PhD conferment; nationality; university location; scientific affiliation of the PhD, number of years between master degree and PhD, achievement of competitive grants, achievement of research grants and/or awards, university prestige, and involvement in publications.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rocco Palumbo

Rocco Palumbo, PhD. is a Senior Researcher of Organization Theory and Behaviour of the Department of Management & Law at the University “Tor Vergata” in Rome, Italy. He has published more than 100 scientific contributions, including articles in peer reviewed journals, books, and book chapters. His main research interests include, but are not limited to: public sector innovation, innovative approaches to human resource management in the public sector, team performance management, and workplace discrimination.

Mauro Cavallone

Mauro Cavallone, Associate Professor of the Department of Management at the University of Bergamo, Italy. He has written several books as well as national and international papers focusing on customer relationships and loyalty, cross cultural communication and management. Since 2005, he has been the director of the first level Master's Degree “Marketing Management per l'Impresa Internazionale” (M.M.I.I.). He is coauthor (with Luca Colleoni) of one of the first Italian books on public services, “Il Marketing degli Enti Locali: criticità, strategie, operatività” (1999), published by Franco Angeli, Milan.