Doctoral students’ professional identity: Psychosocial antecedents of those who work in practice

Abstract

The main goal for doctoral student is to acquire the identity of a researcher. However, doctoral student also performs other professional roles, such as a teacher or practitioner. The purpose of this paper is to reveal the psychological and social factors that are important for the practitioner’s role identity of doctoral students. The sample consisted of 494 doctoral students from 22 higher education institutions in Lithuania. Internet survey was conducted. The analysis of structural equation modelling revealed that perceived support of family and friends, conscientiousness and lower neuroticism are important for practitioner’s role identity. In addition, if a doctoral student has a tendency to experience negative emotions (sadness, anger, guilt, etc.), a greater perceived support from employer helps to internalise the professional role of a practitioner. This study has practical implications for doctoral students, organisers of doctoral programmes, career counsellors, employers and universities.

Keywords: Professional identity, doctoral student, practitioner, role identity