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Preparing Industry Leaders: The Role of Doctoral Education and Early Career Management Training in the Leadership Trajectories of Women STEM PhDs

Research in Higher Education volume 63, pages 400–424 (2022)Cite this article

Abstract

While gender diversity in leadership has been shown to benefit organizations and promote innovations, women continue to be underrepresented in leadership positions in the industry sector. With increasing numbers of women pursuing PhDs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields, it is critical to examine how PhD programs contribute to the career paths of PhDs. This study examines the role of doctoral education preparation in communication, management, and technical skills, as well as post-PhD early career management training (ECMT), on PhDs’ attainment of leadership positions in industry. Data come from the National Science Foundation Survey of Doctorate Recipients, National Science Foundation Survey of Earned Doctorates, and National Research Council Rankings of PhD programs. Using regression analyses, results indicate that ECMT is associated with a higher likelihood of attainment of leadership positions. PhD preparation in management skills also contributes to the attainment of leadership positions. Previous literature has shown that structural inequities and workplace bias contribute to limiting women’s progress to leadership positions and that it is critical to address systemic and workplace biases. Research findings suggest that PhD program preparation and increased access to professional development opportunities can help contribute to the enhancement of women’s pathways to leadership roles. Structural changes in doctoral education preparation in management skills and increases in ECMT opportunities offered by employers also have the potential to increase the participation of STEM PhDs in leadership roles in industry.

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Fig. 1

Adapted from Leadership Theory and Practice, by P. G. Northouse, 2016, 7th ed., Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage Publishing, p. 400

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Acknowledgements

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1653378. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. The authors thank members of the CAREER Advisory Board and the SPHERE Research group for helpful feedback.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Purdue University, 701 West Stadium Ave., West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA

    Joyce B. Main, Yanbing Wang & Li Tan

  2. ETH Zürich, Sonneggstrasse 33, 8092, Zürich, Switzerland

    Yanbing Wang

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  1. Joyce B. Main
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Correspondence to Joyce B. Main.

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Appendix

Appendix

Table 9 and Figs. 2 and 3.

Table 9 Factor analysis of doctoral education career preparation skills
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Fig. 2
figure 2

Love plot of covariate balance before and after matching

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Fig. 3
figure 3

Kernel densities of probability of participating in ECMT before and after matching

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Main, J.B., Wang, Y. & Tan, L. Preparing Industry Leaders: The Role of Doctoral Education and Early Career Management Training in the Leadership Trajectories of Women STEM PhDs. Res High Educ 63, 400–424 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-021-09655-7

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Keywords

  • Gender
  • Leadership
  • Industry
  • Doctoral education