Abstract
Background: As greater career development support for doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers has been emphasized, the individual development plan (IDP) has become a recommended mentoring tool. However, little is known about the effect of IDPs on mentoring and career development. This study proposed two conceptual models to examine the interrelationships among the use of IDPs, mentoring support, and career preparedness with a diverse sample of doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers in the life sciences. Methods: The data leveraged for this study was collected over a three-month period, March 2016 to June 2016, as part of a cross-sectional, online survey. The survey was distributed through social media and direct email to participants enrolled in life/biological/medical or physical/applied doctoral programs at U.S. institutions. To test the proposed conceptual models, this study employed the design-based multilevel structural equation modeling. Results: The analytic sample comprised 660 doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers in the life sciences from 91 institutions. The results suggested that 1) using the IDP could enhance mentoring support and career preparedness of doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers; 2) greater mentoring support and career preparedness would motivate mentees to continue utilizing the IDP with their principal investigator (PI) or advisor; and 3) females, postdoctoral researchers, and international scholars might need more support throughout the mentoring and career development process. Conclusions:This research offered empirical evidence for how an IDP, mentorship, and career preparedness interact. Findings revealed the IDP enhances mentoring support and career preparedness, as well as mentoring support and career preparedness predict IDP use. We conclude the IDP is an important mentorship tool that enhances trainees' overall career preparation.
Highlights
As greater career development support for doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers has been emphasized, the individual development plan (IDP) has become a recommended mentoring tool
Recent IDP research indicates that 51% of surveyed doctoral students reported that the IDP was helpful to their career development.[21]
This study further examines the impacts of the IDP by investigating the interrelationships among the IDP, mentoring support, and career preparedness for doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers
Summary
Mentees benefit from IDP usage by developing skills (i.e., technical, professional or transferable), that enhance exploration and/or awareness of career paths.[17,18,19] Researchers discovered that IDPs appear to be most effective when doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers have a positive mentoring relationship with their advisor, as well as engage in career development activities.[20,21] Recent IDP research indicates that 51% of surveyed doctoral students reported that the IDP was helpful to their career development.[21] The IDP is intended to be a vehicle doctoral students and postdocs can use to identify their career goals.[22] IDP research highlights the need to close long-standing career development infrastructure gaps within institutions and external funding solicitations that impede an individual’s career development.[8,21,22,23,24] For example, integrating career development experiences early and often within the doctoral curriculum, institutions can encourage an expanded career readiness within their trainees by “hiring PhD scientists to direct career development programs”.23. The mentee’s backgrounds are functioning over the process
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