Considering‐Mobility

Expanding Our View of P h D Graduate Life‐Career Decision‐Making

Dados Bibliográficos

ID17675883
AutoresLynn Mcalpine (0000-0002-5361-1361, Department of Education University of Oxford Oxford UK, autor correspondente), Montserrat Castelló (0000-0003-1757-9795, Department of Psychology Universitat Ramon Llull Barcelona Spain), Kirsi Pyhältö (0000-0002-8766-0559, Center for University Teaching and Learning, Faculty of Educational Sciences University of Helsinki Helsinki Finland)
Ano2026
Volume80
Fascículo2
Data de publicação2026-02-05
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoHigher Education Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0951-5224 • E-ISSN: 1468-2273
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/hequ.70111
OpenAlexW7128040123
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências citadas24

Globally more than half of PhD graduates work beyond academia and they change jobs with greater frequency than in academia. We have been researching this post‐PhD mobility for some time, and recently, in beginning a study, we became intrigued by transcript excerpts that were not actual mobility but still referenced mobility. On examining these more closely, we realised they represented assessing options/possibilities without actual moving . This unexpected phenomenon led us to expand our analysis to compare experiences of considering mobility and actual mobility. Strikingly, in considering mobility compared to actual mobility, life‐career goals predominated, and assessments of personal and structural factors were often present—not the case with actual mobility. These findings fundamentally expand our understanding of life‐career thinking: first, they position considering mobility as an ongoing internal dialogue assessing personal and structural factors around life‐career intentions. Second, given no visible action results from the effort, these assessments emphasise the centrality of ‘thinking’ in individual's agency—efforts to influence their life‐career options. As to policy and practice, this new evidence of intentionality has implications for helping individuals enhance their career thinking—important in today's world of self‐authored careers

Centrality · Intentionality · Phenomenon · Career Development and Diversity · Doctoral Education Challenges and Solutions · Higher Education and Employability