Beyond the Academy: Professional Agency and What it Means to be a Scholar

Understanding how PhD students and recent graduates find meaning in their academic work is critical to fostering a thriving scholarly community. Providing critical insights into the factors that shape the professional agency of emerging scholars, this research explores the connections between learning network collaboration (LNC), self-efficacy (SE), and the significance of emotionally meaningful work (EMW) to scholarly identity. Using a mixed methods design, this research examines how LNC and SE influence the perception of EMW. The mediation analysis reveals that SE fully mediates the relationship between LNC and EMW, emphasizing the crucial role of self-efficacy in making scholarly work emotionally fulfilling. Thematic analysis of open-ended survey responses identifies key themes, including professional commitment, engagement, and continuous learning, that are shaped by demographic factors such as age, gender, race, and disability. Together, these findings highlight the multifaceted nature of scholarly identity and underscore the importance of tailored support strategies to enhance the professional growth of scholars in diverse fields. The study calls for future research to develop targeted strategies that will not only sustain but also elevate the academic and emotional well-being of emerging scholars in a complex and rapidly changing academic landscape.