What value do PhD graduates offer? An organizational case study

Abstract

Prior studies of PhD graduates beyond the academy have focused on graduates’ perceptions of work or the views of employers and organizational factors. We argue this bifurcation of individual and structural factors contributes to an incomplete understanding of PhD career trajectories, as it ignores the interaction between individual and structural factors that ultimately influences career trajectories. Using an individual-structural framework, we conducted a bounded case study of two small units within a private organization to see whether the framework and study design provided insight into the influence of this intersection. We found that hiring PhDs both sustains and enhances the mission and growth of the organization and offers PhD graduates the potential for a non-traditional PhD career trajectory. Further, the conceptual framework and study design suggest possibilities for future exploration of this intersection.