Incentivising academics: experiences and expectations of the tenure track in Finland

ABSTRACT

Research has shown that a tenure track incorporates both commitment and control aspects: the career system offers junior-level academics long-term job prospects, but subjects them to performance control. This study complements existing research on tenure track positions, which has mostly been conducted in northern America. Universities in Finland have established new organisation-specific tenure track systems. Drawing on interviews with academics working in tenure track positions, this study elucidates the inconsistencies and tensions academics feel during their career, the criteria they interpret as being emphasised in promotion, and their experiences in combining work and private lives. While academics were formally encouraged to excel in various areas, the study found that academics interpreted the tenure track as emphasising research performance and success in acquiring research funding. The study concludes that career systems encourage academics to adopt entrepreneurial mindsets and makes the individual responsible for their own career progress.

KEYWORDS:

• Tenure track
• academic career
• universities
• new public management
• performance criteria

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank the EUREDOCS 2016 participants in London for the insightful discussions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The interviewees comprised a theoretical sample (non-probability sample). They were selected from a list that included all tenure track academics in the chosen organisational subunits of the case universities. The organisational units represented individually oriented and group-based (infrastructure-intensive) fields, and basic and application-oriented fields. The interviewees were chosen to represent individuals in different career phases, nationalities, and genders. Diversity of academic fields and career phases were prioritised over other classifications. The main goal of theoretical sampling was to maximise the variety of contextual factors.

2. To protect the anonymity of interviewees, I have not specified the exact academic fields or the working units of individuals. For the same reason, in the quotes I have indicated the academic fields of the interviewees only broadly by referring either to natural sciences/technology or social sciences/business studies.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the Finnish Work Environment Fund, the Ella and Georg Ehrnrooth Foundation, and the Oskar Öflund Foundation.