Work as a government ‘scientist’: Professional status security during organisational change and downsizing

Abstract

An increasingly complex and competitive funding environment has led many public research organisations to intervene in the organisation of scientists’ work. Government scientists represent a major component of the public research workforce but little is known of how workers in this sector have fared amid institutional and organisational change. Government scientists have applied research objectives but must still meet the profession’s requirements for legitimisation through independent research and peer-reviewed publishing to be recognised professionally as ‘scientists’. This study examines the impact of organisational change and downsizing in an Australian government science agency on the professional status security of its scientists. It uses a mixed method approach involving one focus group, 22 in-depth interviews and 803 survey responses. It finds that structural change reduced scientists’ professional status security and that a context of job insecurity and limited external employment opportunities inhibits individual scientists’ capacity to resist adverse changes to their work conditions.