Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name:  Hottenrott, Hanna
Author-Email: hottenrott@dice.hhu.de
Author-Name: Lawson, Cornelia 
Author-Email: cornelia.lawson@nottingham.ac.uk
Author-Workplace-Name: University of Turin
Author-Workplace-Homepage: http://www.est.unito.it/
Title: Flying the nest: How the home department shapes researchers’ career paths. 
Abstract: Academic researchers face mobility related decisions throughout their careers.
We study the importance of team and organisational characteristics of the home departments for career choices of 
departing researchers in the fields of science and engineering at higher education institutions in Germany.
We find that the organisational environments–the nests–shape career paths.
Research funding, research performance in terms of patents and publications as well as the industry ties of department 
heads shape job choices.
In particular, public research grants increase the probability that departing researchers take a research job at 
a university or public research centre, while grants from industry increase the likelihood that they take a job in
industry. Publication performance of the department head relates to R&D jobs in public, but not in industry and patents 
predict the probability that departing researchers will move to small and medium-sized firms. For these firms seeking 
technological knowledge from former university employees may be particularly crucial.
Academic start-ups are more likely to be a job destination for departing researchers from technical universities, from 
departments with higher publication output and with a research focus on experimental development. 
Length: 30 pages
Creation-Date: 2014-07
File-URL: http://www.est.unito.it/do/home.pl/Download?doc=/allegati/wp2014dip/wp_23_2014.pdf
File-Format: Application/PDF
Handle: RePEc:uto:labeco:201409