Page 40 - Through the gate of the neoliberal academy • Herschberg

38 CHAPTER 2
p. 115). Scouting practices are performed by gatekeepers, who play an important role in deciding who get access to academic positions and who are excluded (Husu, 2004) as gatekeepers generally occupy power positions in universities (Van den Brink & Benschop, 2014). Power and political processes play a role during the selection (Bozionelos, 2005; Ferris & King, 1991) such as group dynamics among selection decision makers (Van Arensbergen et al., 2014b) and favouring candidates according to one’s own interests (Bozionelos, 2005). The majority of studies that look at the recruitment and selection of academics have focused on senior academic positions (e.g., Nielsen, 2015; Van den Brink & Benschop, 2012b) or Vice-Chancellors (Engwall, 2014) and longer-term appointments such as professorships. We do not yet know how academics are recruited and selected for project-based work. With this study we want to further the knowledge on academic recruitment and selection processes by studying how these processes are organised for precarious postdoc positions.
2.5 Methodology
Data collection
This research study used a qualitative multiple-case study approach. This approach allows us to compare the recruitment and selection criteria for postdocs as well as the researchers deemed ideal for postdoc positions between four national contexts. The data for this chapter were collected in collaboration with research teams in four universities in Belgium (BE), Italy (IT), Switzerland (CH), and the Netherlands (NL). These universities’ main tasks are both research and teaching. All four research teams conducted two case studies in their institution: one in a Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) department and one in a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) department. Our comparative analysis is based on research reports that were written by the four research teams. Each team wrote two research reports that centred on recruitment and selection of early-career researchers in their respective institutions (for the first research reports see: Herschberg et al., 2015. The second research reports are not published in full). The research reports were based on various data sources. Firstly, the data consisted of documents such as university policy documents, HR documents, job-postings, and appointment reports, published in the period 2010 – 2014. The four research teams collected these documents in their universities. Secondly, every research team conducted semi-structured interviews with selection committee members who took part in the recruitment and selection of early-career researchers (postdoc and assistant professor positions) in the period