Leaving the Ivory Tower: Vocational Application Orientation of Early Career Academics

André D. S. Lerche (), Christian L. Burk () and Bettina S. Wiese ()
Additional contact information
André D. S. Lerche: RWTH Aachen University
Christian L. Burk: RWTH Aachen University
Bettina S. Wiese: RWTH Aachen University

Research in Higher Education, 2023, vol. 64, issue 3, No 3, 402-422

Abstract: Abstract This study reports on the development and validation of a new construct of application orientation (AO), which we defined as a vocational orientation concerning the interest for certain principles, values, and activities that are common for university graduates working in applied (i.e., industrial) fields. Using a multi-study program with different samples, the new construct was conceptualized (Study 1) and validated (Studies 2–4). In a qualitative content analysis with N = 102 professionals (all of them having an academic degree mostly in the STEM disciplines), four central facets of applied (i.e., industrial) work were identified (process orientation, customer focus, product focus, and economic focus). In a study with N = 200 university students and professionals with mixed disciplinary backgrounds (i.e., STEM but also non-STEM fields), the AO facets correlated with the RIASEC dimensions (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, Conventional; Holland, 1997) mostly as expected, and the AO facet product focus was predictive of the preference for applied work settings, supporting convergent validity assumptions. Discriminant validity of the AO facets was largely supported, examining average variance extracted by the AO factors compared to the RIASEC factors. In a known-groups validation study, AO was higher in N = 108 professionals from industry compared with N = 40 scientists (all from STEM fields) working at a university. In a sample of N = 128 early career scientists from the STEM fields, the AO facet product focus predicted applied work behavior in an assessment center.

Keywords: Application orientation; Career preferences; Vocational interests; Multi-study validation approach; Early career academics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11162-022-09702-x Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:reihed:v:64:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1007_s11162-022-09702-x

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/journal/11162

DOI: 10.1007/s11162-022-09702-x

Access Statistics for this article

Research in Higher Education is currently edited by Robert K. Toutkoushian

More articles in Research in Higher Education from Springer, Association for Institutional Research
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().