NAVIGATING POST-PHD CAREER TRANSITIONS: SELF-LEADERSHIP AND INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT AMONG ALUMNI OF A MALAYSIAN PUBLIC RESEARCH UNIVERSITY

Abstract

Higher education institutions around the world have experienced significant changes as a result of the growth of PhD programs. However, the lack of opportunities for academics to secure employment within academia has created problems for many PhD graduates. While there has been a growth in the number of PhD graduates in public research universities in Malaysia, the training of these graduates in relation to employment in a variety of careers has not received the focus that it deserves. Following the graduation of PhD programs, many universities will begin to investigate how their graduates begin to navigate their careers within the first year of establishing themselves in their careers. The interview of 15 PhD graduates from disciplines including education, science, engineering, business and accounting, and languages and linguistics has revealed the different paths that these graduates followed in their attempts to establish careers outside of academia. The various disciplines within the PhD programs at these public universities in Malaysia appear to have had an impact upon the types of careers that their graduates selected. Graduates from STEM and business programs have a higher percentage of establishing careers outside of academia than graduates from programs in education and languages. Although many of these graduates followed paths that were initiated by their fields of study, each graduate exhibited some level of agency in the career choices that they made. These graduates initiated careers as self-leaders to establish themselves in the careers that they pursued. While these graduates were well-educated in their disciplines, they reported a lack of careers and employment structures within their universities. The integration of Career Construction Theory, Social Cognitive Career Theory, and Self-Leadership Theory allows for an understanding of the relationship between these graduates’ choices in careers, their fields of study, and their universities’ lack of career preparation for PhD students. Overall, these findings create a discussion regarding the need to introduce career development structures within PhD programs. PhD programs in public research universities in Malaysia and other similar nations can apply these findings to improve the career lives of their graduates.