Overcoming shortage of second-career academics in business schools

Abstract

This study addresses the United Nation’s (UN) Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4) to “substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers[academics], including through international cooperation for teacher training in developing countries, especially least developed countries and Small Island developing states” by 2030. Literature review reveals that there is a shortage of academics to teach business units globally due to the high demand for business education. Hence experienced and qualified business practitioners are recruited to assume the role of academics, collectively termed as second-career academics. This study was conducted to explore the challenges faced by these second-career academics in order to explore ways to sustain and retain them, as a measure to mitigate the shortage of academics in business education at tertiary level. The findings revealed that second-career academics experience a sense of discordance due to the fundamental contradiction between the ideals, pre-conceived perceptions of academic career and the everyday realities of academic task performance. The discordance is precipitated by differences in work culture between industry and academia, inconsonance with university management, and pedagogical/research challenges. The study suggests appropriate orientation and training opportunities to address the special needs of these second-career academics in order to sustain and retain their academic career, as a solution to the shortage of business academics.

Keywords

• second-career academics
• shortage of academics
• business schools