Abstract
Orientation: South African higher education institutions (HEIs) are facing significant challenges in attracting talents to academic positions.Research purpose: The main objective of this research was to determine factors that will attract early career academics to South African HEIs.Motivation for the study: Currently there exists limited research on factors that attract early career academics to HEIs as preferred employers.Research approach, design and method: A qualitative approach was adopted for this study; semi-structured interviews were conducted to gain data. The study participants comprised of 23 academic staff members from various merged South African HEIs.Main findings: The findings show that nine themes are related to the attraction of early career academics to HEIs: career development and advancement, opportunities to make a contribution, employer branding and prestige, job security, flexible working hours (work–life balance), intellectual stimulation, innovation, opportunity to apply skills and autonomy.Practical/managerial implications: The results also challenge HEIs to develop a superior employer brand with a strong employee value proposition (EVP) that would attract, develop and reward early career academics for their work efforts.Contribution/value-add: The study provides important practical guidelines that could assist HEIs to attract talented early career academics and become an employer of choice.
Highlights
The ability to attract quality young academics remains a challenge for many South African higher education institutions (HEIs)
The participants identified nine factors that could be instrumental in the attraction of early career academics: career development and advancement, opportunities to make a contribution, employer branding and prestige, job security, flexible working hours, intellectual stimulation, innovation, opportunity to apply skills and autonomy
Career development and advancement was the practice that appeared to be the main factor in attracting early career academics to HEIs
Summary
The ability to attract quality young academics remains a challenge for many South African higher education institutions (HEIs). The recent ‘fees-must-fall’ campaign by students has tarnished higher education’s reputation as an employer of choice significantly (Badat, 2017). Academics contend with a lack of adequate state and research funding, uncompetitive remuneration packages and research incentives, a decline in the quality of the workforce in South Africa as a developing country and employment equity initiatives (The South African Council on Higher Education, 2016). Tarnished organisational brands present serious barriers to attracting academics in order to ensure an adequate pipeline of academics, which is critical to South Africa’s national strategy to accelerate human capital development (Higher Education South Africa, 2014)
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