Born Researcher or Political Influencer? Professorial Identity in Higher Education

Abstract

With the rise of new public management and ever increasing competitive pressures in research organizations, the demands on professors have enlarged in that their responsibilities go far beyond research and teaching. Specifically, they are now expected to be effective leaders, who understand and shape the changing environment. Yet, we have surprisingly little theoretical knowledge or empirical data about how professors balance and integrate the demanding–and sometimes conflicting–roles of being a researcher, teacher, manager, and/or leader. In this paper, we use an identity perspective to investigate how professors at the tenured career stage construe their identity and enact their careers. We applied a qualitative approach and interviewed 26 professors about their motives, personal success criteria, leadership behaviors, and daily work challenges. Based on these data, we propose five types of professorial identity: (1) Born researchers, (2) cultivating teachers, (3) stimulating coaches, (4) ambitious all-rounders, and (5) political influencers. By exploring the complexity of professorial identity, we enhance knowledge about manifold ways of professors’ academic career development. We provide a more nuanced picture of how the professorial identity shapes professors’ behaviors, challenges, and careers. Based on these findings, we discuss important implications for management education in terms of selection and development of academics.