Researchers from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor will collaborate with researchers from Michigan State University to implement an EHR Core Research (ECR) project. The project will study how an inclusive educational and workplace climate can affect academic STEM career outcomes, particularly for early-career individuals from underrepresented groups. The proposers will develop a novel construct of inclusive authorship climate in which intellectual contributions are fully welcomed and valued throughout the research process. The proposers will examine inclusive climate at the levels of the research group, department, and profession, each of which likely shapes career outcomes for underrepresented, early-career STEM scholars. Ultimately, this project will advance understanding of how to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM.
The study builds on the organizational theory of Person-Environment Fit (PE Fit) which claims that career outcomes and attitudes are positively affected by having an organizational environment that is congruent with an individual’s needs, skills, and values. The proposers argue that for individuals in STEM from underrepresented groups, 'fit' requires an inclusive climate (i.e., an environment that values differences and makes all feel welcome). The researchers will develop, test and implement a survey of 3,500 graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and assistant professors in four STEM fields for which faculty racial minority representation is low and gender representation is low or moderate: physics, economics, biology, and psychology. Structural equation modeling will quantify differences in the effect of inclusive climate on career outcomes of scholars at three different career stages, in departments with different institutional prestige, and in disciplines with different norms and cultures. An important contribution of this research will be the development of the inclusive authorship climate concept and the development of metrics and survey instruments to measure it.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
