Transforming the associate-to-full promotion system: Wrestling with strategic ambiguity and gender equity

Abstract

Women faculty remain under-represented among all academic ranks within STEM fields, and especially at the rank of (full) Professor. While researchers have studied the underlying, systemic factors that contribute to these outcomes, and a range of possible interventions, how reform of the Associate-to-Full promotion system unfolds within a STEM-intensive university remains a black box. Drawing from in-depth longitudinal case study data, we find that reform involves an ongoing process of wrestling with strategic ambiguity. More specifically, we identify three interrelated micro-processes that inform efforts at reform: 1) negotiations over the what of promotion criteria and systems; 2) struggles over who controls the formulation of promotion policy and interpretation of criteria; and 3) decisions over how the change process itself should unfold (externally or internally aligned). This paper makes several new contributions to the field: 1) we introduce the idea of strategic ambiguity as something that is negotiated and navigated rather than something to be eliminated; 2) we provide a more nuanced understanding of the micro-processes that unfold throughout the promotion reform process, and 3) we show how contests over control between low- and high-power individuals and groups are inextricably intertwined with promotion system reform.