Disciplinary differences in doctoral student engagement in generic skills learning

Sakurai, Yoshimasa; Pyhältö, Kirsi

doi:10.1108/sgpe-03-2020-0018

“…Second, the black-box mechanism between academic passion and research engagement has been uncovered. Existing studies examining the effect of academic passion on learning engagement are mainly based on social cognitive behavioral theory [ 82 ] and focus on subject category [ 83 ], learning environment [ 84 ], and type of passion [ 85 ], among other factors. However, these factors only relate to aspects such as individual background characteristics and the external environment, ignoring the effect of autonomous motivation on behavior.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A study on the influence of academic passion on PhD students’ research engagement—The role of ambidextrous learning and academic climate

Chen,

Zhao

2024

PLoS ONE

0

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The engagement in research, as the primary form of learning engagement for PhD students, is crucial for enhancing their competitive edge. Academic passion, a key determinant of learning engagement, plays a significant role in driving the research enthusiasm of PhD students. However, the "black box" concerning whether and how academic passion influences PhD students’ research engagement remains to be explored. Addressing this gap, the present study draws upon self-determination theory, adopts the "motivation-behavior-effect" analytical framework, and incorporates ambidextrous learning as a mediator to elucidate the specific pathway through which academic passion impacts PhD students’ engagement in research activities. Furthermore, it examines the facilitating role of the academic climate in this process. From December 2022 to March 2023, a questionnaire survey was conducted, collecting 522 responses from PhD students across 25 universities in China. The survey primarily assessed the PhD students’ academic passion, ambidextrous learning behaviors (including tendencies towards exploratory and exploitative learning), and their perceived academic climate, investigating how these factors collectively influence their engagement in research activities. The questionnaire data were analyzed using a combination of SEM and bootstrapping with SPSS 26.0 and Mplus 8.3 software. The findings reveal that academic passion significantly positively affects PhD students’ research engagement; ambidextrous learning (exploratory and exploitative learning) mediates the relationship between academic passion and PhD students’ research engagement; and the academic climate effectively facilitates the transformation of PhD students’ academic passion into ambidextrous learning (exploratory and exploitative learning). The study’s conclusions not only foster PhD students’ enthusiasm for research but also enhance learning effectiveness and innovation vitality, providing a theoretical basis for reforming the doctoral training system.

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“…Some Vitae training opportunities are available in Japan (Pearce & Metcalfe, 2016 ), but more evidence-based approaches are still needed. As Sakurai and Pyhältö ( 2021 ) identified the disciplinary patterns of researcher engagement in skill development, their disciplinary expectations should also be considered for programme contents.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foreign early career academics’ well-being profiles at workplaces in Japan: a person-oriented approach

Sakurai

¹

,

Mason

²

2022

Self Cite

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The well-being of foreign early career academics (FECAs) has been the subject of research attention in relation to present demanding academic milieux in general and to those unfamiliar workplace settings in particular. A traditional variable-oriented approach that focuses on mean scores can easily gloss over the diverse nature of the group under study. Our study, conducted in Japan, took a person-oriented approach and identified FECAs’ distinct well-being profiles and the associations of their personal attributes with the profiles. Most (64%) were classified as having the highest stress scores and moderate scores for sense of belonging, control of workload and career development engagement. The second-largest profile (29%) included FECAs characterised by the lowest stress score and a strong sense of belonging, control of workload and career development engagement. Those in the smallest profile (8%), who had moderate levels of workload control and stress, lacked a sufficient sense of belonging and career development engagement. Among FECAs’ personal attributes, contract type was significantly associated with their distribution across the three well-being profiles, whereas no attributes of FECAs’ unique nature significantly pertained to their distribution. Our results suggested that support for well-being may be important regardless of background. Our investigation, using multifaceted well-being subscales over a composite scale, offers analytical, strategic support for academics in globalised higher education.

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“…Some Vitae training opportunities are available in Japan (Pearce & Metcalfe, 2016), but a more evidence-based effort for ECRs' development opportunity appears needed. Regarding ECRs' training, since Sakurai and Pyhältö (2021) found the disciplinary patterns of researchers' engagement in skill development opportunities, their disciplinary expectations should also be considered for program development and support provision.…”

Section: Implications For Foreign Early-career Researchersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foreign early career academics’ well-being profiles at workplaces in Japan: a person-oriented approach

Sakurai¹,

Mason²

2022

Preprint

0

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The well-being of foreign early career academics (FECAs) has been the subject of research attention in relation to present demanding academic milieux in general and to those unfamiliar workplace settings in particular. A traditional variable-oriented approach that focuses on mean scores can easily gloss over the diverse nature of the group under study. Our study, conducted in Japan, took a person-oriented approach and identified FECAs’ distinct well-being profiles and the associations of their personal attributes with the profiles. Most (64%) were classified as having the highest stress scores and moderate scores for sense of belonging, control of workload and career development engagement. The second-largest profile (29%) included FECAs characterised by the lowest stress score and a strong sense of belonging, control of workload and career development engagement. Those in the smallest profile (8%), who had moderate levels of workload control and stress, lacked a sufficient sense of belonging and career development engagement. Among FECAs’ personal attributes, contract type was significantly associated with their distribution across the three well-being profiles, whereas no attributes of FECAs’ unique nature significantly pertained to their distribution. Our results suggested that support for well-being may be important regardless of background. Our investigation, using multifaceted well-being subscales over a composite scale, offers analytical, strategic support for academics in globalised higher education.

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Disciplinary differences in doctoral student engagement in generic skills learning

Cited by 3 publications

References 50 publications

A study on the influence of academic passion on PhD students’ research engagement—The role of ambidextrous learning and academic climate

A study on the influence of academic passion on PhD students’ research engagement—The role of ambidextrous learning and academic climate

Foreign early career academics’ well-being profiles at workplaces in Japan: a person-oriented approach

Foreign early career academics’ well-being profiles at workplaces in Japan: a person-oriented approach

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