Early career academic's odyssey: A narrative study of her professional identity construction

Recent decades have seen a major transformation of the Spanish university system caused by changes introduced in the teaching staff evaluation procedure in which research has been prioritized. As a result, there has been a growing interest in studying how these procedures impact the way in which early career academics construct their professional identity. In this vein, this article aims to analyze how the professional identity of this group is constructed and developed in the current context of higher education. To this end, a single case study was conducted, applying a biographical-narrative approach. The results show how professional identity development has become polarized in terms of initial rejection to full acceptance of the demands of modern academia. Consequently, professional practices have also been affected by the prioritization of research over teaching, leading to the development of unethical practices to maintain competitiveness. All of these effects have contributed to high levels of stress and job dissatisfaction. Furthermore, maternity is also seen as an obstacle to female academics’ professional and academic development. Finally, our findings highlight the need for policies that provide full support aimed at helping young researchers live balanced professional lives.