Careers of Professional Staff in Australian and UK Universities - A Mixed Methods Pilot Study - review

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by Ben

A mixed methods pilot study evaluates the reliability of a protean and boundaryless career attitudes scale for professional staff in Australian and UK universities. The research summarizes survey results using 5-point Likert closed questions and an open text prompt for career stories, with a convenience sample of 19 staff from Australia and 12 from the UK. Findings indicate a hybrid career-management approach and no significant Australia–UK differences, while recommending further research to support university HR strategies.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time25 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Research purpose and scope

Context: professional staff in universities

Literature Review

Traditional vs contemporary career attitudes

A U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S ’ R E V I E W Careers of professional staff in Australian and UK universities A mixed methods pilot study Michelle Gander Murdoch University This article confirms the reliability of a protean and boundaryless career attitudes scale, tested in a pilot study. Additionally, it summarisesthe results of this study into the career attitudes of professional staff in Australian and UK universities. A mixed methods approach was taken using a survey consisting of both closed questions on a 5-point Likert type scale, and an open text question that asked for respondents’ career stories. The convenience sample consisted of 19 staff from Australia and 12 from the UK. The findings suggest that professional staff create a hybrid approach to managing their career, showing aspects of protean, boundaryless and traditional career attitudes and that there are no significant differences between the career attitudes of these staff in Australia and the UK. There is a clear need for further research to test these results, which could be used to inform universities’ human resource strategies. Keywords: Professional staff, career theory, protean, boundaryless, hybrid, mixed methods Introduction Universities, as large businesses in their own right, are required to have effective academic and business management to ensure successful teaching, research and business-related outcomes. With massification and increased regulation there are considerable numbers of non-academic staff working in Australian and UK universities. For example, in Australia in 2015 there were 65,739 non-academic staff or 55.4 per cent of the total population; in the UK the figure for 2014/15 was 205,500 or 51 per cent of the total population (Department of Education and Training, 2016; Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), 2016) . According to the HESA in the UK, non-academic staff include ‘managerial, professional and technical’ staff which are commonly identified with different names including administrators, professional (services) staff, or academic-related staff. In this paper, I use the term professional staff to encompass the wide range of activities these staff undertake ranging from, for example accountants, registrars, human resource professionals, and librarians. In 2014/15 these staff numbered 95,870 or 23.7 per cent of the total staff population in the UK (Higher Education Statistics Agency, 2016; there is no number for this cohort of staff from Australia).These staff are typically at least graduates (or are required to hold equivalent qualifications or have equivalent experience, for example accounting or human resource qualifications) who hold positions of varying authority and responsibility in their universities. However, limited empirical research has been carried out on the careers of these staff as it is suggested vol. 59, no. 1, 2017 Careers of professional staff in Australian and UK universities Michelle Gander 87 A U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S ’ R E V I E W they are ‘unseen and unsung’(Eveline, 2004, p. 138) . This is a significant oversight, as research suggests that staff who are engaged, are satisfied with their job, and embedded in their organisation are more committed to their organisation and potentially more productive, with the positive effect of reduced staff turnover (Martin & Roodt, 2008; Mitchell et al. , 2001) .The literature that does exist suggests that there are a number of antecedents that contribute to their affective organisational commitment including remuneration, promotion opportunities, learning and skills development and utilisation, and the work itself (Meyer et al., 2002) . A report by the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education in the UK (LFHE, 2010, p. 6) on a study of 12,000 higher education staff, found that professional staff were attracted to the sector by the ‘opportunity to use skills/experience’,‘a friendly work environment’,‘career secur

FAQs

What does the pilot study test?

It tests the reliability of a protean and boundaryless career attitudes scale for professional staff in Australian and UK universities and reports the pilot results.

How was data collected in the study?

A mixed methods survey was used, combining 5-point Likert closed questions with an open-text question asking respondents for career stories.

What do the findings suggest about career attitudes?

Professional staff are found to create a hybrid approach that reflects protean, boundaryless, and traditional career attitudes, with no significant differences between Australia and the UK.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by Ben