Subjective career success and adaptation of early career academics: A career construction theory approach

Research design overview

A qualitative research approach was used to gather data from ECAs who were drawn from three campuses and seven faculties in the university. The object of qualitative research is to comprehend happenings in their natural setting with a focus on the perspectives and experiences of individuals that cannot be explained using objective measurements (Castleberry & Nolen, 2018; Kyngäs et al., 2020). Whilst earlier studies have measured subjective career success by way of income, number of promotions and hierarchical level attained (Nicholson & De Waal-Andrews, 2005), this study focused on the subjective career success of ECAs by way of the following variables: support for teaching, preparation and assessment of students; teaching and learning processes; career advising by senior academics; support for researcher ratings; and academic promotions.

Study participants

Purposive and snowball sampling techniques were used in selecting 16 ECAs for the study. Particulars of the participants were obtained from the respective academic faculties and departments through direct personal contacts and referrals. There were more male participants (n = 11) than females (n = 5). The academic ranks of the participants were lecturers (10) 62.50%; junior lecturers (3) 18.75% and; academic facilitators (3) 18.75%. The geographical and discipline diversity of the participants served to provide a valuable set of data with different opinions regarding the perceptions of ECAs about their subjective career success and adaptation to the university environment. Participants were allocated pseudonyms to conceal their true identities.

Procedure

For the current study, narrative data by way of interviews were collected from participants. Formal invitations via email were sent to ECAs who consented to participate in the study. Thereafter, the researcher agreed with the ECAs about the interview dates, time, duration and venue. During the interviews, participants were briefed about the purpose of the study after which they were made to sign a consent form. They were also informed about the potential benefits and risks of the study, as well as their right to withdraw from the study if they so wished. The duration of each interview was between 45 and 60 min. The interviews were held in either the offices of participants or a meeting room at the department to prevent noise and distractions. For purposes of confidentiality, only the interviewer and the interviewee were present at the interview venue while voice recorders were placed in the clear sight of the interviewees. A semi-structured interview schedule was developed to gather data from the ECAs concerning their perceptions about the subjective career success factors and the various forms of support they receive from the university (see Appendix 1). In order to provide assurance to the participants about absolute confidentiality of the information provided by them, three processes were followed. First, each participant was informed of the procedure adopted to safely process and store the data. This process includes storing the electronic data on a password-protected computer and the hard copies of the transcripts in a safe with lock for a period of five years. Second, participants were informed not to provide any personal identifiers that could easily link them to the data. Lastly, only the interviewer and the interviewee were present at the interview venue while the voice recorders were placed clearly at the sight of the interviewee. This research was approved by the university's Research Ethics Committee in fulfilment of the requirements for conducting research in the university. In line with the university's rules of ethical consideration, the rationale for the study, potential risks and benefits, and the right of participants to withdraw from the interview if they felt they could not continue for personal reasons, were explained to all participants.

Analysis

The data for the current study were examined using thematic analysis. Thematic analysis involves the development of codes to categories and themes. The rationale for developing codes, categories and themes of the data gathered is to provide details about the characteristics of a dataset (Korstjens & Moser, 2018; Nowell et al., 2017) and in particular, how ECAs perceive and experience their adaptation and subjective career success in the university. One of the advantages of thematic analysis is the theoretical freedom and flexibility (Braun & Clarke, 2006) which provides researchers with complex, rich and detailed sets of data through analysed patterns (Neuendorf, 2019). In the current study, the first step involved exploring the data for important phrases and sentences from the ECAs that addressed how individual and institutional features enhance the subjective career success of ECA. To determine the best codes that represent the views of participants, codes that appeared at least eight times or more were highlighted. Some examples of the codes that emerged were: ‘I create networks through conferences’, ‘I work on research projects with colleagues in other universities’, and ‘the relationship between established academics and ECAs must be improved’. The second step involved collapsing the codes that emerged into categories. For example, ‘I create networks through conferences’ and ‘I work on research projects with colleagues in other universities’ were categorised as ‘professional networks and collaboration between ECAs and other academics outside the university’.

The third step involved the process of identifying the themes based on the patterns developed from the codes and categories. Some examples of the themes that emerged were ‘engaged scholarship’; and ‘life satisfaction’. The process of drawing interpretations from an analysed set of data is essential to arriving at conclusions in a research that adopts thematic analysis (Castleberry & Nolen, 2018) through the use of themes and codes. However, one of the limitations of thematic analysis is the seeming lack of clear guidelines in its application. To address this seeming weakness, the narrative data gathered were thoroughly probed while repeated patterns of meanings from the text were systematically grouped and analysed according to the themes. Prior studies have shown that trustworthiness in qualitative research include the methodical thoroughness of the research design, the credibility of the researcher, the authenticity of the findings, and how applicable the research methods are to future research (Johnson & Parry, 2015; Pratt et al., 2020; Rose & Johnson, 2020). Table 1 shows the responses of participants delineated to the various themes, codes and sample quotes.

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Table 1.

Subjective success factors delineated to the various themes, codes and sample quotes.

Themes	Codes	Sample quotes
Access to professional networks	I create networks through conferences; I work on research projects with colleagues in other universities.	Internally, there is not much interconnectivity between ECAs through organized conferences etc., but we are able to connect with colleagues from other universities through such conferences [Samuel]
Job satisfaction	Early career academics must be provided with office space; there should be adequate lecture rooms and laboratories.	Lack of support does not only refer to financial support. It also refers to lack of laboratory and office space for young lecturers [Lefa].
Working relationships with other academics	The relationship between established academics and ECAs must be improved; I develop close ties with my colleagues.	The support of lecturers in more senior positions definitely made me feel secure in the setup. I was brought into the system and that made me feel more secure [Katelyn]
Engaged scholarship	I participate in community projects; the university provides support to ECAs who wish to engage in community projects.	I am involved in community projects and my assistant Dean is the one who actually brought me into the project …… so we are working with local entrepreneurs[Nku]
Life satisfaction	There should be fair and equal distribution of workload; I derive satisfaction from teaching students.	It is necessary to ensure that across different faculties and departments, there is equal workload distribution. I understand that is not very easy to achieve because in my faculty we teach thousands of students whereas ECAs in other faculties teach as low as 30 students [Rachel]
Socialising with senior academics	There is little socialisation between ECAs and senior academics.	There is no time for people to sit around….People just move in and out, and you just work with whomever you are assigned to work with [Paseka].

Access to professional networks

Professional networks serve as one of the avenues for introducing ECAs to senior academics and other categories of academics in academia. The study sought the views of ECAs on how they develop their professional networks in the university through the support of senior academics. A good number of participants identified attendance at conferences as an important machinery for establishing professional networks. Tyler, who is an ECA at the Faculty of Education, shared his experience about how he develops his professional networks, ‘networking opportunities come through conferences’. He further explained the challenges ECAs face concerning conferences, ‘only a few people get the opportunity to attend conferences’. ‘Although it is an open process, the reality is that we are expected to take care of ourselves, in terms of generating our own funds and paying ourselves, to attend conferences’ [Tyler].

Palesa corroborated the views of Tyler by explaining how conferences organised by his department create opportunities for networking: ‘the department hosts annual conferences so I have made a number of contacts through these. Additionally, I do make new contacts each time I go for a conference’. Another participant from the Faculty of Humanities highlighted the importance of receiving support from senior academics in creating professional networks, ‘you can find this network of senior academics so long as you have the support of your senior colleagues … Unfortunately, we do not have enough in terms of networking programmes in the university’ [Philani].

Feedback from participants revealed that while conferences serve as important avenues for connecting different researchers, the support of senior academics is integral to the establishment of professional networks.

Job satisfaction

This study identified job satisfaction as one of the important subjective career success factors that can enhance the career advancement of ECAs in a university. Different factors account for the job satisfaction of ECAs in the university setting. For instance, the absence of freedom to develop or revise existing modules by ECAs was noted by Wyatt as one of the challenges ECAs face:

I have been in this university for five years now but I am yet to teach any curriculum that is my own design. When you join, you have a ready-made curriculum handed over to you to teach. Remember that the curriculum typically represents the research expertise of the more senior academics in the department.

Working relationship with other academics

Interaction and workplace relationships, especially between ECAs and other categories of academics in the academia, are important for promoting a healthy working environment. However, one of the challenges in many academic environments is the absence of relationships, especially among colleagues. A telling example is the submission by a participant who pointed to minimal interaction. ‘I do not see that relationship where I am. People just move in and out, and you only have to work with whoever you are assigned to work with’ [Rachel]. On his part, Lefa asserted that he is able to develop stronger social ties with his colleagues than with senior colleagues, ‘the structure is hierarchical … you create networks with the people at your level and department. Again, our schedules conflict a lot; you will find that when I am not in class I might be doing research’ [Lefa]. The feedback from participants shows that busy work schedules, hierarchical barriers that arise from the institutional structure, institutional cultures and sub-cultures, and individual's commitment to creating networks tend to influence the relationships among different groups of academics in the academia.

Engaged scholarship

The contribution of academic staff to the development of their communities and the society is important to many universities worldwide. We sought the views of participants concerning their contribution to society, particularly with regard to the development and dissemination of academic knowledge, influencing people's behaviour, and influencing change in a local community. A participant shared his engagement with us as follows, ‘I recently started an NGO that seeks to give civic education to members in neighbouring communities, and that is exactly what my organization is currently doing’ [Sizwe]. Another participant also declared her interest as providing support for people with disabilities, ‘I love working with people who have disabilities. My core passion in life is to advocate for people with disabilities, and I like talking to them about their health needs’ [Palesa]. Feedback from participants revealed that a few senior academics have engaged some ECAs in various community development programmes. It is pertinent to note that a good number of the ECAs disclosed that they have a strong passion for community support programmes and so were either involved in some projects or planning to start their own projects.

Life satisfaction

Life satisfaction represents a subjective career success factor that can affect the well-being of ECAs in the academia. The excerpt below clearly illustrates how a participant reflected on a particular workplace incident that has impacted negatively on her wellbeing, ‘I am a victim of workplace bullying. I remember there was a time I wanted to see a psychologist on campus because I realized that the constant thought of the bullying incident was seriously affecting my relationship with other people’ [Thabisa]. Nthatisi also explained how the challenges associated with her work rather provide motivation for her to continually support her students, especially those from poor backgrounds like herself:

Ours is an institution that has about 60% black student population. I can surmise that some of these black students come from similar backgrounds with me so they know poverty. I believe they can see that there are a good number of Black academics like myself who have worked steadfastly to overcome the challenges that confronted us to attain our present status so they too can achieve similar progress if they work very hard. [Nthatisi]

Socialising with senior academics

Socialising with other categories of academics in the university, particularly senior academics, by ECAs is important for purposes of sharing ideas or participating in common university programmes and events. However, some of the participants disclosed that such encounters are rare and that the few times they get the opportunity to socialise with senior academics are during departmental meetings and seminars. For instance, Lefa stated that ECAs and senior academics socialise during events and programmes, ‘events and programmes in the university encourage socialisation but on a limited scale. We get to socialise about once or twice a year – that is, at the beginning of the year and the end of the year where there are closing celebrations’. Similarly, Samuel noted that the only time he socialises with established academics is during department meetings: ‘the only time we meet is during meetings. Senior academics are very busy and so there is no time to socialise’. The results revealed that although ECAs wish to socialise with senior academics, there was very limited time available to engage in social activities.

Access to professional networks

The study revealed that ECAs develop their professional networks through their participation in conferences, and the introduction of such networks to them by senior academics. Prior study by Turban et al. (2017) has revealed a link between mentorship support, the development of professional networks, and the process of enhancing career success of individuals. Beyond mentorship support and individual initiatives, when universities create a congenial atmosphere for ECAs to connect with other academics and researchers through networks, it enhances their subjective career success. This is consistent with the position of Azorín et al. (2020) who postulate that professional learning networks and leadership involvement at the institutional level are essential for the career advancement of professionals. The results also revealed the significance of establishing relationships with colleagues and former supervisors at the Masters and PhD levels. Among the findings, ECAs disclosed that they still had contacts with their previous supervisors where they studied for their Masters and PhD qualifications. Overall, the study showed that it is important for the university to support ECAs to create networks through programmes and activities that bring together industry experts and academics from different backgrounds.

Job satisfaction

The findings show that, teaching overload by way of administrative tasks that indirectly affect core work output, perceived lack of flexibility in introducing new content in modules, and the absence of clear policies on some work processes served as sources of low level of job satisfaction. A previous study by Osman and Hornsby (2016) has revealed that the challenges ECAs face in the academia include balancing the demands of teaching and research against administrative and other non-academic tasks. Beyond the administrative tasks and heavy teaching workloads, when ECAs are not allowed to contribute to the content they teach by way of its design, it creates among them, a sense of perceived inadequacy and lack of confidence in their delivery that further leads to low levels of job satisfaction. Significantly, the subjective career success of ECAs includes the evaluation of their job satisfaction and career advancement that are based on their ideas, opinions (Volmer et al., 2016) and initiatives about their professional practice. Also, the results revealed that a lack of support in the area of research, a lack of resources such as laboratory equipment and a lack of office spaces for ECAs could lead to low levels of job satisfaction. Prior study by Ng and Feldman (2014) has shown that the subjective carer success of individuals is influenced by their opinions regarding their current jobs, organisational commitment to career advancement, and the availability of resources. One of the findings of this study is that, when students develop their knowledge and skills through the learning process and attain high scores in their courses, it leads to a feeling of satisfaction among lecturers, and ultimately a high level of job satisfaction. The findings align with the previous study that shows that ECAs’ feeling of confidence as researchers and academics through students’ and peer feedback, as well as maintaining a balance in academic roles and, developing a research niche in a particular discipline (Sutherland, 2017) serve as sources of job satisfaction that enhance the subjective career success of ECAs.

Engaged scholarship

The results revealed that ECAs were not oblivious of the importance of engaged scholarship to their career progression and personal development. Although ECAs can undertake activities such as community support projects and advocacy in different areas, the support they receive from senior academics and institutions is important for their career advancement. For instance, through the creation of a conducive environment by institutions, ECAs can obtain resources from the university to undertake projects that directly benefit communities. The provision of such resources represents valuable inputs by the institution that could be used to obtain important outcomes such as career satisfaction (Haenggli & Hirschi, 2020; Hobfoll et al., 2018). This further demonstrates the relationship between institutional provision of resources to ECAs and their career satisfaction. The support of senior academics to ECAs in terms of advocacy, peer review activities and other social support undertakings enhance the subjective career success of ECAs. Importantly, institutions and departments could consider engaged scholarship as a culture that is ingrained among ECAs who are the next generation of academics. Also, when ECAs proactively learn the norms, values and goals of the university and advance their learning and career development, it could lead to enhanced career success (Turban et al., 2017) and high expectations of the institutional support ECAs receive in order to enhance their subjective career success (Dose et al., 2019).

Working relationships and socialising

Among the findings, perceived busy work schedules, hierarchical barriers that emerge from the institutional structures, institutional cultures and sub-cultures and individual commitment to creating networks enhance the relationships between ECAs and other academics. Prominently, CCT is rooted in the contextual and cultural perspectives of social adaptation to individual core and peripheral roles (Savickas, 2005) in higher education. Prior study by Haenggli and Hirschi (2020) has shown that the integration of individuals into the work environment includes psychosocial resources that consist of concerns about future expectations, and control over an individual's career with regard to self-discipline, confidence and curiosity. However, the elements of integration can only be developed through relationships that seek to provide ECAs with opportunities for sharing ideas and developing solutions to problems in the society through engagement. The results further showed that the rather low level of socialisation between ECAs and senior academics is due to reasons such as the busy work schedules of senior academics and their perceived lack of interest to create spaces for socialising with other academics. While the academic work is very involving, formal programmes such as meetings and workshops do not provide sufficient opportunities for socialising. One of the recommendations for rectifying this shortcoming is that universities must explore sporting activities and team building exercises to bring ECAs and senior academics together to socialise and share ideas.

Life satisfaction

The findings of the current study revealed that the uneven distribution of workload has a negative effect on the general well-being and personal development of ECAs. When ECAs become overloaded with teaching activities to the detriment of their research activities and social lives, it creates an imbalance that can affect their career progression. Consistent with the position of Price et al. (2015), heavy teaching workloads and other competing demands represent one of the challenges ECAs face in coping with the demands of academic work at the departmental level. Similarly, Spurk et al. (2019) have suggested that the personal life experiences of employees are an important feature of their subjective career success. There is therefore the need for academic departments to address issues regarding inordinate teaching workload and also develop systems and strategies that will create spaces for ECAs to produce research outputs that is important for their personal development and academic promotion. The findings further revealed that workplace-bullying serves as a major source of low life satisfaction among ECAs. When ECAs feel intimidated by their status as new academics, it negatively affects their sense of belonging and creates a feeling of dejection. Consistent with the findings of this study, ECAs serve as role models to their students, especially those from low economic and social backgrounds and first-generation students. When students see ECAs as role models, it goes a long way to motivate the students to work hard and aspire to attain higher educational qualifications.

Limitation and future research directions

The findings of the current study should be interpreted in the light of two major limitations. Firstly, the study gathered the views of only ECAs who constitute just a small fraction of the entire professional community of academics in the university. Future studies could therefore select different categories of academics to examine their subjective career success factors. It would also be beneficial to examine the differences between ECAs and other categories of academics and how institutional support and individual motivation factors can either enhance or impede their subjective career success and professional advancement. Secondly, this study relied on interview data from ECAs to investigate how individual and institutional features enhance their subjective career success. Future studies could adopt a quantitative research approach to examine the relationship between the subjective career variables and how they are influenced by institutional support systems.