1 Citation (SciVal)

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Despite efforts to increase girls' interest in subjects related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers, there remains a large gender gap in STEM academic faculty.

METHODS: We conducted a national survey comprising 732 early career and senior academics from 40 universities in the UK to investigate the role of pull (receiving career advancement opportunities) and push (experiencing harassment) factors in shaping people's intentions to stay in STEM academia, and the mediating role of perceived workplace climate, academic identification, and beliefs about the ability to succeed (job-related self-efficacy).

RESULTS: Our findings show the differential effect of harassment experiences for women, relative to men. Women experienced more harassment than men, which contributes to their higher intentions to leave academia through enhancing perceptions of a negative workplace climate (i.e., a less collaborative, fair, and inclusive climate) and lower job-related identification (i.e., believing in their ability to succeed as researchers). While receiving opportunities also related to intentions of leaving academia, we did not observe a gender difference in this factor.

DISCUSSION: The result of our analysis underlines the critical importance of preventing and addressing harassment in academic institutions for the retention of female academic talent.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1212545
JournalFrontiers in Psychology
Volume14
Early online date29 Jan 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 29 Jan 2024

Data Availability Statement

The dataset analysed for this study is available in the University of
Bath Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.15125/BATH-01271.

Funding

This research was conducted as part of the Reimagining Recruitment Project (Ref: EP/S012168/1), which was funded by the Engineering & Physical Science Research Council’s Inclusion Matters call

FundersFunder number
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

Keywords

  • STEM – science technology engineering mathematics
  • academia
  • gender
  • retention
  • workplace harassment

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Psychology

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