Social capital in academia: How does postdocs’ relationship with their superior professors shape their career intentions?

In this study, we hypothesize that full professors have an important impact on their postdocs’ career intentions. Using multivariate regression analysis, we found a positive association between postdocs’ ratings of their professor relationship, their integration into the scientific community and their career intentions. In addition, publications as a co-author were significantly related to the intention to pursue professorship. Our results suggest that social capital but specifically the quality of postdocs’ social capital is important for their career intentions: particularly the relationship with their professor, integration into the scientific community and ties to other scientists that translate into publications. Implications for career strategy on the individual level and policy implications are discussed.