Academic identity crafting: How early-career women researchers in the United States and Austria form their professional identities

Abstract

Much of the research on identity formation of early-career researchers (ECRs) emphasizes how neoliberal restructuring of academia has impacted processes of becoming an academic. As a marginalized population in the academy, this is especially acute for women and female-read bodies. This study illuminates “academic identity crafting” processes based on sixteen interviews with ECRs in the United States and Austria who identified as women. Findings point to forms of identity crafting that are connected to “thriving for autonomy,” “having a community,” and “finding purpose.” In addition, challenges of academic identity crafting, which are related to the neoliberal influence on the academy as well as the perceived absence of role models and mentors, were identified. This study highlights the need to improve the ways in which higher education institutions support early-career women researchers in crafting their academic identities. © The Author(s) 2026. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).

Keywords

Author Keywords

Gender job crafting academic identity formation country comparison early career researchers qualitative methodology

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations

Department of Psychosocial Intervention and Communication Studies, Universität Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria, Department of Education, University of Oxford, Oxford, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom

College of Media and Communication, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, United States

Funding & Acknowledgements

Universität Innsbruck

The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study was partly funded by Sciences Po as part of the Gender Studies Visiting Faculty Programme 2025\u20132026 and the Austrian Higher Education Research Network (Hofo). Proofreading was funded by the Faculty of Educational Sciences of the University of Innsbruck.

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Academic identity crafting: How early-career women researchers in the United States and Austria form their professional identities

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