The Importance of Inclusive Climate Within the Research Group, Department, and Profession for Marginalized Science Scholars’ Career Outcomes

This open access article was published in the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education

Abstract

Existing academic structures and norms perpetuate the mistreatment and marginalization of scholars resulting in a climate that is misaligned with the values of academics from marginalized groups. Therefore, we study how climates at multiple levels of the academy (i.e., research group, department, and professional field) shape marginalized scholars’ careers and career attitudes. Participants (N = 3,204) were doctoral students, postdoctoral fellows, and assistant professors from four science fields (biology, physics, economics, and psychology) who completed an online survey about psychological safety and intragroup conflict within their research group, climate of diversity within their department, climate of scholarly inclusion within their professional field, and their career outcomes. We conducted three general structural equation models with marginalized identity status predicting three career outcomes: turnover intentions, burnout disengagement, and burnout exhaustion. We also tested the mediation effect of climate at the levels of the research group, department, and profession on these career outcomes. Participants with a greater number of marginalized identities experienced a more negative climate at all three levels compared to those with no and fewer marginalized identities. The climate experienced at these three levels also significantly mediated all three career outcomes for marginalized scholars. Climate of scholarly inclusion at the level of the profession was especially strongly related to intent to leave and burnout. These results add to the breadth of research on multiply marginalized scholars’ negative experiences of academic climates and point to areas that may be particularly important for interventions.

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Author Affiliations

Douglas, H. M., Settles, I. H., Spence Cheruvelil, K., Montgomery, G. M., Elliott, K. C., Cech, E. A., Davis, T. M., Ma, G., Hawkins, A. K., & Nadolsky, L. R. (2024). The importance of inclusive climate within the research group, department, and profession for marginalized science scholars’ career outcomes. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000589