Working outside academia? Perceptions of early-career, fixed-term researchers on changing careers

ABSTRACT

This article examines the perceptions of early-career, fixed-term researchers in Finnish universities towards changing careers. It maps out the reasons this group has considered the change and where they see themselves in five years. As a theoretical framework, a synthesisation of variables related to career change, created by Ryan, Healy, and Sullivan [2012. “Oh, Won’t You Stay? Predictors of Faculty Intent to Leave a Public University.” Higher Education 63: 421–437.], was used. The results show that the most common reasons for early-career researchers to change careers are job-security related stress, job-related dissatisfaction, and salary. Over half of the respondents would like to work at a university in five years; however, half of the respondents would also be happy to work in industry. Further examination of the responses highlighted the polarisation of those academics who were optimistic about their future employment opportunities in academia and those with highly pessimistic outlooks. The results of the study bear crucial importance when addressing the current discussion and issues related to the career paths of early-career researchers in Europe.

KEYWORDS:

• Academic staff
• career change
• early-career stage
• fixed-term employment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Melina Aarnikoivu (MA) is a doctoral student at the Centre for Applied Language Studies (CALS), University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Her dissertation is a nexus analysis of becoming a scholar and its purpose is to study and ultimately to understand the path of becoming a professional researcher. The emergent issues include the international mobility and the work / life balance of doctoral students and the construction of their academic identity. Aarnikoivu's studies have been funded by the Centre for Applied Language Studies and the Emil Aaltonen Foundation.

Dr Terhi Nokkala is a Senior Researcher at the Finnish Institute for Educational Research (FIER), University of Jyväskylä and an Adjunct Professor of Higher Education Administration at the Faculty of Management, University of Tampere. Her research focuses on the interplay between higher education policy, technological developments, organizational parameters and networks, and individual experiences in various aspects of higher education, with a specific interest in comparative methodology and discourse analysis.

MSSc Taru Siekkinen is a project researcher at the Finnish Institute for Educational Research (FIER), University of Jyväskylä. Her research is focused on higher education, and academic professionals’ work and careers. Her current research project, “Exiting academics in networked knowledge societies” EANKS, is studying flows of academics in Finland between different sectors. She is finalising her doctoral thesis on academic careers.

Kari Kuoppala (MA) is a Researcher at the Faculty of Management, University of Tampere, Finland. Now Kuoppala is functioning in a research project funded by the Finnish Work Environment Fund dealing with the Security at the Finnish universities. Kuoppala’s main research interests are academic work, higher education policy and organization theory.

Dr Elias Pekkola is a University lecturer in Administrative Science at the Faculty of Management at the University of Tampere, Finland and a docent of public management at the University of Vaasa. He is an Academic Director of Nordic joint master degree programme on Innovative Governance and Public Management. Pekkola’s main research interest are public administration, academic work, careers, profession, and higher education policy.

ORCID

Melina Aarnikoivu http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4626-5840

Terhi Nokkala http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2381-7825

Taru Siekkinen http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7853-9979

Kari Kuoppala http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9217-6534

Elias Pekkola http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4805-7423

Notes

1 The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has defined working conditions as 'a broad range of topics and issues, from working time (hours of work, rest periods, and work schedules) to remuneration, as well as the physical conditions and mental demands that exist in the workplace' (2016).

Additional information

Funding

The data for this study came from two research projects funded by the Finnish Work Environment Fund in years 2013–2016 [Grant number 114158]. It is also related to the funding acquired from the Academy of Finland for the EANKS (Exiting Academics in Networked Knowledge Societies) project [Grant number 297460].