Factors influencing PhD students’ intentions to pursue careers in the government and nonprofit sectors: evidence from a global survey

ABSTRACT

There is a growing need to support diversified career pathways for doctoral students. However, research on the determinants of doctoral students’ preferences to pursue future careers outside academia is still limited, or indeed is absent when careers in the government and nonprofit sectors (GNS) are considered. Using data from the 2019 Nature PhD Students Survey, this paper explores factors that influence PhD students’ preferences for GNS career pathways. The results show that the personal attributes, motivations, and concerns of students considering careers outside academia are generally similar, notwithstanding their career preference by sector of activity. However, the results also suggest that doctoral students who lean towards GNS careers have different personal attributes, motivations, and concerns than those wanting to work in the business sector. Specifically, compared with those preferring employment in the business sector, doctoral students who are concerned about the political landscape and care less about the uncertainty of career prospects are more inclined to work in the nonprofit sector. Compared with those preferring employment in the business sector, those who enjoy creativity and the academic environment tend to prefer employment in the government sector. Older and female doctoral students are also more likely to consider GNS career pathways.

KEYWORDS:

• Doctoral education
• PhD students
• career choice
• government and nonprofit sectors
• motivations

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Data retrieved from OECD, Main Science and Technology Indicators: https://stats.oecd.org/ [accessed on 19/10/2020].

2 The ‘quadruple helix’ innovation model is a knowledge economy university–industry–government–civil society knowledge collaboration and resource interactions framework focusing on mutually reinforcing drivers to foster local, regional, and national innovation and socio-economic development (see Carayannis & Campbell, 2014).

3 Self-efficacy refers to ‘people’s judgements of their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to attain designated types of performances’ (Bandura, 1986, p. 391).

4 Limited by the question design, the career likelihood rating variables did not distinguish the government sector from the nonprofit sector.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Research Grants Council, University Grants Committee [Grant Number 17604119].