Kateřina Machovcová
Biographic Data
| ID | 177572 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Kateřina Machovcová |
| GIVEN NAMES | Kateřina |
| FAMILY NAME | Machovcová |
| SIGNATURE | MACHOVCOVÁ K |
| AFFILIATIONS | Czech Academy of Sciences |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2397-5962 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 22 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Between aspiration and reality: The educational pathways of Ukrainian refugee students in Czech secondary schools
The transition from lower to upper secondary education is critical to refugee youth integration. Drawing on career construction theory, particularly the construct of career adaptability, this study examines how Ukrainian refugee students in the Czech Republic choose upper secondary schools, prepare for entrance examinations and adapt after admission. Using a qualitative longitudinal design, we conducted 45 interviews with 17 students across three…
Becoming a student: Management of transition to higher education among first-generation students’
This study investigates the identity formation of first-generation students during their transition to university in the Czech Republic, while also reflecting the impact of COVID-19-related distance learning. Drawing upon qualitative interviews ( N = 25), the study explores their relationship with their studies. The findings, presented as identity trajectories, highlight how the formation of the student identity is based upon the interaction of m…
Fostering Resilience in Higher Education: Middle Management Strategies for Institutional Survival
The article examines how heads of academic programmes and departments in Israel and the Czech Republic managed crises in relation to their understanding of higher education policy. Through interviews with 27 Israeli and 26 Czech middle managers across 23 institutions, the study examines their responses, particularly to the COVID‐19 crisis. While both groups faced increases in already heavy workloads and exhibited strong commitment, key difference…
Crafting Cumulative Advantage: A Systemic Approach to the Career Development of Highly Productive Researchers
Despite a meritocratic discourse prevalent in higher education, academic careers appear to be deeply influenced by structural inequalities. In this study, we employed a systemic perspective that merged organizational theories of cumulative advantage and job crafting to explore the career development of highly productive researchers. Our focus was on the dynamic relationship between the researchers’ agency and the organizational structure of their…
(Dis)continuities in academic middle management career trajectories: A Longitudinal Qualitative Study
Department heads are central in the university setting as an important buffer between university leadership and academic staff. However, taking on a middle management role can lead to significant disruptions in academic careers. To investigate the career trajectories of 31 academics in middle management roles, two waves of semi-structured interviews were conducted in 2015-16 (N = 31) and 2021 (N = 26). By exploring (dis)continuity in academic car…
Early career researchers as active followers: Perceived demands of supervisory interventions in academic workplaces
Academic institutions are characterized by specific dynamics between leaders and followers. Academics prefer work autonomy but expect quality leadership. In this article, we explore how early career researchers (ECRs) constructed followership identities through their expectations of supervisory interventions. We used thematic analysis to analyze 39 interviews. The identified themes of ECR followership identity constructions were as follows: 1) Fo…
Competing values at public universities: Organisational cultures and job demands‐resources in academic departments
Diverse influences on national higher education (HE) systems result in variability in organisational cultures in academic workplaces. We implemented the competing values model of organisational culture to explore the departmental cultures at Czech public universities and the workplace perceptions of academics from different cultures. The participants ( n = 2,229) completed an electronic questionnaire including the Organizational Climate Measure (…
Why I don’t want to be an academic anymore?” When academic identity contributes to academic career attrition
Homeschooling mothers: Precarious by choice
This article presents the findings of a study on homeschooling in Czechia. It focuses on the gender aspects of this uncommon educational decision. Based on forty-three individual interviews with homeschooling parents, the article’s unifying thread is interest in understanding how mothers are involved in the decision to homeschool, and how the practice is embedded in gendered relationships within the society. We explore the results from two perspe…
‘Twofold otherness’: On religion, spirituality, and home schooling in the Czech Republic
In the Czech Republic, home schooling is an increasing but still rare education practice. The country is at the same time not favourable to public demonstrations of religion. In such a specific context, we investigated the intersection of religion, spirituality, and home schooling. Drawing on a broad ethnographic research design, we identify three levels of strategies employed by religious or spiritual home-schooling parents to negotiate their ‘t…
A Self-determined Profession? Perceived Work Conditions and the Satisfaction Paradox among Czech Academic Faculty
While the Czech academic profession faces a range of challenges and problems, quantitative surveys indicate a relatively high level of high job satisfaction among academic faculty. This article addresses this ‘satisfaction paradox’ by exploring the perceived work conditions of Czech academics based on their own reports. The data for this study included academics’ (N = 1202) qualitative responses to open-ended questions regarding the main problems…
Occupational Well-being Among University Faculty: A Job Demands-Resources Model
Justifying homeschooling in Czech Republic: How "good parents" and their children use time
In our study of Czech homeschooling families, we discovered that the unifying theme of their justifying narratives was how the families rearranged the norm of "good parenting," defined as the amount of time families spent together. The parents argued the importance of sacrificing their own time and educating their children themselves. They distinguished themselves from parents who are not willing to attend the children's needs as much. Finally, w…
Czech elementary school teachers’ implicit expectations from migrant children
Keeping Marketisation at Bay: The Quality of Academic Worklife in Czech Universities
This study examines quality of academic worklife in Czech public universities to assess the extent to which the global drive towards marketisation in higher education has affected Czech academic staff. A total of 2229 academics (men = 57.1%) completed a survey measuring their job satisfaction, job stress, and work environment perceptions. Findings revealed high levels of overall job satisfaction (83.6% satisfied with their jobs) and relatively lo…
Uneasy Relationship: Feminist Practices in the Czech Psychology and Therapy
This article starts with a discussion of how the Czech society welcomed feminism after the collapse of communist regime in the Eastern bloc. It continues with an evaluation of how feminism and gender studies have influenced the Czech psychology and its practice; examples from qualitative research with psychologists and therapists are presented
Why I don’t want to be an academic anymore?” When academic identity contributes to academic career attrition
Justifying homeschooling in Czech Republic: How "good parents" and their children use time
In our study of Czech homeschooling families, we discovered that the unifying theme of their justifying narratives was how the families rearranged the norm of "good parenting," defined as the amount of time families spent together. The parents argued the importance of sacrificing their own time and educating their children themselves. They distinguished themselves from parents who are not willing to attend the children's needs as much. Finally, w…
A Self-determined Profession? Perceived Work Conditions and the Satisfaction Paradox among Czech Academic Faculty
While the Czech academic profession faces a range of challenges and problems, quantitative surveys indicate a relatively high level of high job satisfaction among academic faculty. This article addresses this ‘satisfaction paradox’ by exploring the perceived work conditions of Czech academics based on their own reports. The data for this study included academics’ (N = 1202) qualitative responses to open-ended questions regarding the main problems…
(Dis)continuities in academic middle management career trajectories: A Longitudinal Qualitative Study
Department heads are central in the university setting as an important buffer between university leadership and academic staff. However, taking on a middle management role can lead to significant disruptions in academic careers. To investigate the career trajectories of 31 academics in middle management roles, two waves of semi-structured interviews were conducted in 2015-16 (N = 31) and 2021 (N = 26). By exploring (dis)continuity in academic car…
Czech elementary school teachers’ implicit expectations from migrant children
Keeping Marketisation at Bay: The Quality of Academic Worklife in Czech Universities
This study examines quality of academic worklife in Czech public universities to assess the extent to which the global drive towards marketisation in higher education has affected Czech academic staff. A total of 2229 academics (men = 57.1%) completed a survey measuring their job satisfaction, job stress, and work environment perceptions. Findings revealed high levels of overall job satisfaction (83.6% satisfied with their jobs) and relatively lo…
Homeschooling mothers: Precarious by choice
This article presents the findings of a study on homeschooling in Czechia. It focuses on the gender aspects of this uncommon educational decision. Based on forty-three individual interviews with homeschooling parents, the article’s unifying thread is interest in understanding how mothers are involved in the decision to homeschool, and how the practice is embedded in gendered relationships within the society. We explore the results from two perspe…
Uneasy Relationship: Feminist Practices in the Czech Psychology and Therapy
This article starts with a discussion of how the Czech society welcomed feminism after the collapse of communist regime in the Eastern bloc. It continues with an evaluation of how feminism and gender studies have influenced the Czech psychology and its practice; examples from qualitative research with psychologists and therapists are presented
Uneasy Relationship: Feminist Practices in the Czech Psychology and Therapy
This article starts with a discussion of how the Czech society welcomed feminism after the collapse of communist regime in the Eastern bloc. It continues with an evaluation of how feminism and gender studies have influenced the Czech psychology and its practice; examples from qualitative research with psychologists and therapists are presented
Keeping Marketisation at Bay: The Quality of Academic Worklife in Czech Universities
This study examines quality of academic worklife in Czech public universities to assess the extent to which the global drive towards marketisation in higher education has affected Czech academic staff. A total of 2229 academics (men = 57.1%) completed a survey measuring their job satisfaction, job stress, and work environment perceptions. Findings revealed high levels of overall job satisfaction (83.6% satisfied with their jobs) and relatively lo…
Czech elementary school teachers’ implicit expectations from migrant children
Occupational Well-being Among University Faculty: A Job Demands-Resources Model
Justifying homeschooling in Czech Republic: How "good parents" and their children use time
In our study of Czech homeschooling families, we discovered that the unifying theme of their justifying narratives was how the families rearranged the norm of "good parenting," defined as the amount of time families spent together. The parents argued the importance of sacrificing their own time and educating their children themselves. They distinguished themselves from parents who are not willing to attend the children's needs as much. Finally, w…
‘Twofold otherness’: On religion, spirituality, and home schooling in the Czech Republic
In the Czech Republic, home schooling is an increasing but still rare education practice. The country is at the same time not favourable to public demonstrations of religion. In such a specific context, we investigated the intersection of religion, spirituality, and home schooling. Drawing on a broad ethnographic research design, we identify three levels of strategies employed by religious or spiritual home-schooling parents to negotiate their ‘t…
A Self-determined Profession? Perceived Work Conditions and the Satisfaction Paradox among Czech Academic Faculty
While the Czech academic profession faces a range of challenges and problems, quantitative surveys indicate a relatively high level of high job satisfaction among academic faculty. This article addresses this ‘satisfaction paradox’ by exploring the perceived work conditions of Czech academics based on their own reports. The data for this study included academics’ (N = 1202) qualitative responses to open-ended questions regarding the main problems…
Homeschooling mothers: Precarious by choice
This article presents the findings of a study on homeschooling in Czechia. It focuses on the gender aspects of this uncommon educational decision. Based on forty-three individual interviews with homeschooling parents, the article’s unifying thread is interest in understanding how mothers are involved in the decision to homeschool, and how the practice is embedded in gendered relationships within the society. We explore the results from two perspe…
Competing values at public universities: Organisational cultures and job demands‐resources in academic departments
Diverse influences on national higher education (HE) systems result in variability in organisational cultures in academic workplaces. We implemented the competing values model of organisational culture to explore the departmental cultures at Czech public universities and the workplace perceptions of academics from different cultures. The participants ( n = 2,229) completed an electronic questionnaire including the Organizational Climate Measure (…
Why I don’t want to be an academic anymore?” When academic identity contributes to academic career attrition
Early career researchers as active followers: Perceived demands of supervisory interventions in academic workplaces
Academic institutions are characterized by specific dynamics between leaders and followers. Academics prefer work autonomy but expect quality leadership. In this article, we explore how early career researchers (ECRs) constructed followership identities through their expectations of supervisory interventions. We used thematic analysis to analyze 39 interviews. The identified themes of ECR followership identity constructions were as follows: 1) Fo…
(Dis)continuities in academic middle management career trajectories: A Longitudinal Qualitative Study
Department heads are central in the university setting as an important buffer between university leadership and academic staff. However, taking on a middle management role can lead to significant disruptions in academic careers. To investigate the career trajectories of 31 academics in middle management roles, two waves of semi-structured interviews were conducted in 2015-16 (N = 31) and 2021 (N = 26). By exploring (dis)continuity in academic car…
Becoming a student: Management of transition to higher education among first-generation students’
This study investigates the identity formation of first-generation students during their transition to university in the Czech Republic, while also reflecting the impact of COVID-19-related distance learning. Drawing upon qualitative interviews ( N = 25), the study explores their relationship with their studies. The findings, presented as identity trajectories, highlight how the formation of the student identity is based upon the interaction of m…
Fostering Resilience in Higher Education: Middle Management Strategies for Institutional Survival
The article examines how heads of academic programmes and departments in Israel and the Czech Republic managed crises in relation to their understanding of higher education policy. Through interviews with 27 Israeli and 26 Czech middle managers across 23 institutions, the study examines their responses, particularly to the COVID‐19 crisis. While both groups faced increases in already heavy workloads and exhibited strong commitment, key difference…
Crafting Cumulative Advantage: A Systemic Approach to the Career Development of Highly Productive Researchers
Despite a meritocratic discourse prevalent in higher education, academic careers appear to be deeply influenced by structural inequalities. In this study, we employed a systemic perspective that merged organizational theories of cumulative advantage and job crafting to explore the career development of highly productive researchers. Our focus was on the dynamic relationship between the researchers’ agency and the organizational structure of their…
Between aspiration and reality: The educational pathways of Ukrainian refugee students in Czech secondary schools
The transition from lower to upper secondary education is critical to refugee youth integration. Drawing on career construction theory, particularly the construct of career adaptability, this study examines how Ukrainian refugee students in the Czech Republic choose upper secondary schools, prepare for entrance examinations and adapt after admission. Using a qualitative longitudinal design, we conducted 45 interviews with 17 students across three…
Political science (13 works) · Psychology (13 works) · Pedagogy (9 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Czech (8 works) · Higher education (8 works) · Social Psychology (7 works) · Qualitative research (6 works) · Higher Education Governance and Development (5 works) · Public relations (5 works)