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Up or Out: Research Incentives and Career Prospects of Postdocs in Germany

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  • Bernd Fitzenberger
  • Ute Schulze

Abstract

type="main" xml:id="geer12010-abs-0001"> Academic careers in Germany have been under debate for a while. We conduct a survey among postdocs in Germany to analyze the perceptions and attitudes of postdocs regarding their research incentives, their working conditions, and their career prospects. We conceptualize the career prospects of a postdoc in a life-cycle perspective of transitions from academic training to academic or non-academic jobs. Only about half of the postdocs sees strong incentives for academic research, but there is quite a strong confidence to succeed in an academic career. Furthermore, postdocs who attended a PhD program show better career prospects and higher research incentives compared to others. Academic career prospects and motivation are strongest for assistant professors. Apart from this small group, however, postdocs report only a small impact of the university reforms of the last decade. Female postdocs show significantly higher research incentives but otherwise we find little gender differences. Finally, good prospects in non-academic jobs are not associated with a reduction in the motivation for research.

Suggested Citation

  • Bernd Fitzenberger & Ute Schulze, 2014. "Up or Out: Research Incentives and Career Prospects of Postdocs in Germany," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 15(2), pages 287-328, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:germec:v:15:y:2014:i:2:p:287-328
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/geer.2014.15.issue-2
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    Cited by:

    1. Jia Song & Zunwei Yang, 2023. "Striving Transition for University Academics: The Academic Role Identity of Young Postdocs at Universities in China," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(1), pages 21582440231, February.
    2. Lutter, Mark & Schröder, Martin, 2016. "Who becomes a tenured professor, and why? Panel data evidence from German sociology, 1980–2013," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(5), pages 999-1013.
    3. Klaus Wohlrabe, 2018. "Einige Anmerkungen zum FAZ-Ökonomenranking 2018," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 71(20), pages 29-33, October.
    4. Lutz Bornmann & Alexander Butz & Klaus Wohlrabe, 2017. "Ein Meta-Ranking volkswirtschaftlicher Fachzeitschriften," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 70(16), pages 40-42, August.
    5. Erina Ytsma, 2022. "Effort and Selection Effects of Performance Pay in Knowledge Creation," CESifo Working Paper Series 10153, CESifo.
    6. Bäker, Agnes, 2015. "Non-tenured post-doctoral researchers’ job mobility and research output: An analysis of the role of research discipline, department size, and coauthors," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 634-650.
    7. Alexander Butz & Klaus Wohlrabe, 2016. "Anmerkungen und Kritik zu den Ökonomen-Rankings 2015 von Handelsblatt, FAZ und RePEc," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 69(10), pages 37-44, May.
    8. Hayter, Christopher S. & Parker, Marla A., 2019. "Factors that influence the transition of university postdocs to non-academic scientific careers: An exploratory study," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 556-570.
    9. Mario Fernandes & Andreas Walter, 2023. "The times they are a-changin’: profiling newly tenured business economics professors in Germany over the past thirty years," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 93(5), pages 929-971, July.
    10. Alexander Butz & Klaus Wohlrabe, 2016. "Die Ökonomen-Rankings 2015 von Handelsblatt, FAZ und RePEc: Methodik, Ergebnisse, Kritik und Vergleich," ifo Working Paper Series 212, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    11. Lutter, Mark & Schröder, Martin, 2014. "Who becomes a tenured professor, and why? Panel data evidence from German sociology, 1980-2013," MPIfG Discussion Paper 14/19, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    12. Haucap, Justus & Thomas, Tobias & Wohlrabe, Klaus, 2017. "Publication performance vs. influence: On the questionable value of quality weighted publication rankings," DICE Discussion Papers 277, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    13. Aybars Oruc, 2021. "Requirements for Productivity in the Academic Environment," Higher Education Studies, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 11(4), pages 1-40, November.
    14. Nurith Epstein & Martin R Fischer, 2017. "Academic career intentions in the life sciences: Can research self-efficacy beliefs explain low numbers of aspiring physician and female scientists?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(9), pages 1-18, September.
    15. Alessandro Muscio & Sotaro Shibayama & Laura Ramaciotti, 2022. "Universities and start-up creation by Ph.D. graduates: the role of scientific and social capital of academic laboratories," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 147-175, February.
    16. Doris Fischer, 2014. "The Impact of Changing Incentives in China on International Cooperation in Social Science Research on China," Journal of Current Chinese Affairs - China aktuell, Institute of Asian Studies, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Hamburg, vol. 43(2), pages 33-46.
    17. Nurith Epstein & Daniel Lachmann, 2018. "Gender Inequity during the Ph.D.: Females in the Life Sciences Benefit Less from Their Integration into the Scientific Community," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(8), pages 1-15, August.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • A11 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Role of Economics; Role of Economists
    • A29 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics - - - Other
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J49 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Other

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