Since the twenty-first century, universities in many countries, including China, have introduced tenure-track employment to attract outstanding faculty. Through a survey of 1,099 faculty members from 21 high-level research universities in China, this study used a quasi-experimental method to examine the effect of the tenure track on faculty…

Researchers have shown that the pursuit of doctoral studies is often related to the desire to become an academic, despite the constrained academic labour markets and changing (or deteriorating, as some have argued) academic working conditions (AWC) worldwide. In this study, we assessed the extent to which Chinese PhD students were aware of the…

Despite recent evidence linking top management power with firm performance, our understanding about the interaction effect between power and personal characteristics of the top manager is still very limited. Building on and extending the Upper Echelons and Power literature, we address the empirical question: How, i.e. UK Vice-Chancellors' (VC)…

The disproportion of women to men at the top tier in the academic hierarchy, concerns politicians, academic leaders, students, and other stakeholders. A popular explanation for the gender imbalance in elite positions is that potential female candidates lack ambition and therefore do not have sufficient drive to make it to the top. In this study,…

The employee-organisation relationship between academics and universities is a critical issue in higher education (HE) human resource management. Previous studies have mainly investigated the segmentation between full-time and part-time academics, or academics working in different countries. However, few studies have explored academics'…

Occupational embeddedness is defined as what keeps people in their current occupation and is believed to have three dimensions: Fit (perceived compatibility), Links (ties to others), and Sacrifice (material or psychological losses upon career change). Occupational embeddedness is highly relevant for academic faculty in higher education, who have a…

Temporary contracts are increasingly used in academia. This is a major concern for non-tenured researchers, since weak job security may hamper job satisfaction. This paper presents an empirical analysis of the role of academic tenure for job satisfaction of researchers in European countries. The work uses data from the MORE2 survey, a large-scale…

The academic department is a key administrative unit in universities, and so heading, or chairing, a department is a key role. However, it is also known to be a challenging role and academics are often reluctant assume this position. Despite its importance, the head's role has not received sufficient academic attention and needs further…

Coauthorship has intensified as a mode of production across the twentieth century and into the twenty-first in a large number of fields. Yet sole authorship remains a publishing mode in some fields. Publishing is not only an individual behavior but is also nestled in organizations. To that end, incentives to sole -- or co-author work may vary…

Faculty (N = 205) at regional public universities (RPUs) in the United States were surveyed for self-reports of their primary academic identity (teacher, researcher) and qualitative descriptions of struggles related to their academic identity. Well-being and job satisfaction were examined as outcome measures of identity struggles. Participants…

Drawing on upper echelon theory, we investigate whether university deans' personal characteristics, including age, sex, educational background, and tenure are associated with their use of university management control systems (MCS), financial performance measures, and non-financial performance measures. We surveyed the dean of every faculty across…

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…

Academic career systems have been in focus lately as a means to attract talented researchers and teachers. In this paper, we compare tenure tracks at three Swedish universities. The analysis relies on qualitative data, including interviews and policy documents, and revolves around three questions: How is the tenure track designed? What were the…

This paper investigates the components and causes of sabotage among tenured University academics. The study uses a collective intelligence methodology, Interactive Management (IM), to explore the components and causes of sabotage. Across a series of three workshops, participants generated, selected, categorised, and structured ideas to develop a…

Universities must ensure that academic staff are qualified and competent for performing their job. Teaching and research are two key activities in which lecturers should excel. While some authors suggest teaching and research complement each other and positively influence student satisfaction, some others point to a rivalry effect between the two.…