(Dis)continuities in academic middle management career trajectories: a longitudinal qualitative study

0578725 - PSÚ 2025 GB eng J - Journal Article
Machovcová, Kateřina - Kováts, G. - Mudrák, Jiří - Cidlinská, Kateřina - Zábrodská, Kateřina
(Dis)continuities in academic middle management career trajectories: a longitudinal qualitative study.
Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management. Roč. 46, č. 2 (2024), s. 200-217. ISSN 1360-080X. E-ISSN 1469-9508
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA20-13732S; GA MŠMT(CZ) LX22NPO5101
Institutional support: RVO:68081740
Keywords : academic careers * academic development * academic managers * higher education * leadership
OECD category: Psychology (including human - machine relations)
Impact factor: 2.6, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Limited access
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1360080X.2023.2276589

Department heads are central in the university setting as an important buffer between university leadership and academic staff. However, taking on a middle management role can lead to significant disruptions in academic careers. To investigate the career trajectories of 31 academics in middle management roles, two waves of semi-structured interviews were conducted in 2015–16 (N = 31) and 2021 (N = 26). By exploring (dis)continuity in academic careers and (dis)engagement with participants’ managerial roles, we identified four types of trajectories that appeared to influence participants’ possibilities of future academic career development. We labelled these trajectories as follows: temporary managers, early managers, duty-served senior managers, and acclaimed managers. We argue that temporary managers, who are appointed to a fixed-term managerial position early in their academic careers, face the highest risk of disruptions in their academic career development, while duty-served senior managers, who are appointed to a fixed-term managerial position later in their careers, represent the most sustainable group.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0347631