LAUSR

In the declining academic job market—with fewer tenured and tenure-track posts and an increased use of part-time faculty coupled with constant high attrition rates in doctoral education in the United States—the quality and value of graduate education have recently come under scrutiny. Most of the literature on graduate education focuses on doctoral training and socialization experiences, identifies factors that contribute to students’ degree completion, and illuminates what demographic characteristics may complicate the process of graduate education. While a growing body of research has documented the variations in graduate student socialization by department, academic discipline, and institutional and organizational contexts—and critiqued a monolithic treatment of doctoral education—few studies look at the relationship between doctoral training and career development. This study integrates doctoral socialization, role identity, and competence development into a conceptual model for examining factors that influence doctoral students’ intent to choose an academic career. Based on the data analysis of a sample of 316 doctoral students in a public, research-oriented U.S. university, we provide a discussion of key factors identified as important to doctoral students’ career aspirations and conclude with implications for practice and future research.