Kooperationsnetzwerke und Karrieren an deutschen Hochschulen

From a life-course theoretical perspective, university careers may not only depend on performance and productivity, but also on characteristics of cooperation and professional networks. Building on an extensive archive analysis we investigated university careers of four cohorts of German psychologists, who obtained their doctoral degree in the years 1980–81 and 1985–86 (N=579). Data were obtained from public reference archives (e.g. PSYCHLit), a German yearbook of psychologists (Hogrefe publishers), and the internet. In addition to university positions and characteristics of institutes, we generated information on the size, density, and productivity of cooperation networks. Findings indicate that attainment of a professor position depends on individual productivity as well as on cooperation networks. In particular, the size of university institutes (at the time when finishing the dissertation work) and the density of coauthor networks proved as strongest predictors of tenured professorship. The findings strongly underscore the important role of network management in the course of professional careers.