Overcoming impostor syndrome: an intercultural response to PhD candidature during the COVID-19 pandemic

Citra Amelia, Alistair Welsh, Monika Winarnita and Ramón López Castellano

Chapter 5 in Research Handbook of Academic Mental Health, 2024, pp 95-109 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This study investigates the impact of impostor syndrome on the academic progress of Indonesian international PhD students in Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Survey results showed that 45 per cent of 111 participants identified impostor syndrome as impacting their PhD progress. Applying positioning and agency theories, we draw from in-depth interviews to examine one participant’s lived experiences of imposter syndrome in detail. Critical analysis of her reflective narrative shows how she navigated cultural, religious, and academic identities to overcome impostor syndrome and successfully complete her PhD. We discovered that the supervisors’ unrealistic expectations of publication were a key trigger for this participant’s impostor syndrome and that pressures for academic publications increased during the pandemic. We also identify the need for more explicit university policies and realistic expectations for PhD students who pursue PhD by publication and for universities to raise mental health awareness of impostor syndrome during times of crisis.

Keywords: Business and Management; Education; Environment; General Academic Interest (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781803925080.00012 (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable

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:elg:eechap:21655_5

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Darrel McCalla ().