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 language | English |
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Article number | 1212545 |
Journal | Frontiers in Psychology |
Volume | 14 |
Early online date | 29 Jan 2024 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 29 Jan 2024 |
Data Availability Statement
The dataset analysed for this study is available in the University ofBath 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
Funders | Funder number |
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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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Dataset for "How Harassment is Depriving Universities of Talent: A national survey of STEM academics in the UK"
Blackwood, L. (Creator) & Litzellachner, L. (Creator), University of Bath, 7 Dec 2023
DOI: 10.15125/BATH-01271
Dataset