Doctoral students’ career decision-making process: comparing faculty and non-faculty careers from socio-cognitive and contextual perspectives

Minimal extant research on doctoral students’ career development prohibits the customization of career preparation that is necessary to prepare them with competencies for achieving their career goals. Such research is particularly urgent as current academic job markets shift career placement patterns of doctoral recipients. This study addresses this need using mixed methods to investigate how doctoral candidates determine their career choices based on their sought career paths. Using Cognitive Information Processing (CIP) and Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) as theoretical frameworks, the study sought to 1) understand doctoral students’ career choice processes and 2) examine the career decision-making process differences based on their sought career paths (faculty versus non-faculty route). This exploratory study was conducted at a large, public, and research-oriented U.S. Midwestern university (USMU). Purposive sampling strategy was adopted by targeting “all-but-dissertation” (ABD) doctoral students regardless of affiliated discipline. This study employs a convergent parallel design mixed methods approach. SCCT guided quantitative research A total of 372 doctoral candidates responded to the survey, and analysis of covariance was conducted to identify group differences in the effects of environmental influences on their career choice process. Concurrently, structured interviews with 30 doctoral candidates were conducted to deeply understand their career decision-making processes step by step. The interview protocol was developed based on CIP theory and directed content analysis guided qualitative data analysis Finally, a joint matrix was used to merge these two data sets to identify overlapping and different facets of doctoral students’ career choice processes through triangulation. Several implications of these findings, limitations of the study, and suggestions for future research are discussed