Outing the Imposter: A Study Exploring Imposter Phenomenon among Higher Education Faculty

Abstract

Attention to faculty development, especially factors influencing faculty satisfaction and performance, has increased in the last decade. While a significant focus has been on contextual factors (i.e., tenure policies, mentoring, work‐life integration), fewer studies have examined individual psychological factors especially in the field of human resource development. This descriptive study addresses a particular focus in faculty development by examining the prevalence of faculty experiences of imposter phenomenon, IP, (the experience of fraudulent thoughts and feelings and the inability to attribute and internalize personal achievement), how it affects their perceived emotional exhaustion (a dimension of job burnout) and their reported coping skills. Results of the study suggest that faculty (n=61) do experience moderate levels of IP with the highest reported by untenured faculty. Results also indicate that faculty emotional exhaustion is positively related to IP, and faculty reporting moderate‐high levels of IP also reported greater use of adaptive coping skills to address imposter thoughts. Faculty also identified the important role of mentoring at tempering imposter tendencies.

Making the leap to medical education: a qualitative study of medical educators' experiences

“…Finally, clear communication of the medical educator role, well‐defined expectations and organisationally appropriate boundaries are important to combating lingering feelings of insecurity around identity and legitimacy in both individuals and the medical education community . These should be coupled with the provision of targeted advice on the acquisition of skills, and structural support and time for personal development and practice.…”

“…Finally, clear communication of the medical educator role, well-defined expectations and organisationally appropriate boundaries are important to combating lingering feelings of insecurity around identity and legitimacy in both individuals and the medical education community. 32,33 These should be coupled with the provision of targeted advice on the acquisition of skills, and structural support and time for personal development and practice. This has a twofold benefit in both supporting those who are in medical education roles and in providing an easily recognisable public face of the medical educator identity to permit better understanding among those who are not themselves educators.…”

Jumping Into The Deep: Imposter Syndrome, Defining Success and the New Librarian

“…Participants in our session came up with a variety of ideas such as mentorship, completing projects, setting goals, and developing relationships as markers for success. Hutchins and Rainbolt (2017) and Hutchins (2015) show that coping mechanisms such as social support (mentors for example), validation of successes, positive affirmations, and selftalk (for example, encouraging and motivating oneself using phrases or mantras to influence ones internal dialogue) are common features of coping mechanisms for IS in academic faculty and apply to the strategies found by our participants.…”

“…Hutchins (2015) even found that higher rates of IS thoughts in academic faculty were tied to lower ratings in job performance. As was summarized by Hutchins and Rainbolt (2017) and Hutchins (2015), research finds that IS thoughts correlate with anxiety, burnout, psychological distress, fatigue, and emotional and cognitive distance from work, which again leads to poorer work outcomes in satisfaction and performance.…”

“…Research can be seen for academics in general (Knights & Clarke, 2014;Hutchins, 2015), minorities (Muhs, Niemann, González, & Harris, 2012;Earle Reybold & Alamia, 2008;Craddock, Birnbaum, Rodriguez, Cobb, & Zeeh, 2011;Farrel, Alabi, Whaley, & Jenda, 2017), mature students (Chapman, 2017;Johnson, 2004), and undergraduate and graduate students (Kolligian & Sternberg, 1991;Ewing, Richardson, James-Myers, & Russell, 1996;Craddock, Birnbaum, Rodriguez, Cobb, & Zeeh, 2011). These examples work in conjunction with other variables, but demonstrate that librarianship is not unique in terms of experiences of IS.…”