Organizational Support, Satisfaction, and STEM Research Career Plans in Pipeline Interventions: A Strengths-Based Approach among Underrepresented Students.

Abstract

This policy-relevant study provides new insight into the social organization of pipeline interventions for underrepresented (UR) students and how strong organizational support can help to explain successful Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) outcomes. Guided by the strengths-based role stress and adaptation literature, the study focused on two major Research Aims: (1) to develop reliable and valid measures of strong formal and informal organizational support that are useful for research on UR students in pipeline interventions; and (2) to explore how strong formal and informal organizational support measures may help to explain overall program satisfaction and successful STEM research career plans among UR students. To investigate several related questions, multivariate analyses were conducted on panel survey data from UR students in a strong pipeline program with multiple program components and UR students in other pipeline interventions with fewer formal program components. With respect to the Research Aim 1, factor analyses clearly supported the reliability and validity of both formal and informal organizational support scales. This NIH-NIGMS supported study revealed that UR students in a nationally recognized Summer Research Opportunity Program designed with multiple components had higher scores on the strong formal organizational support scale items. Moreover, UR students with higher formal organizational support also had significantly higher informal support from program peers than from either faculty mentors or program staff sources. Overall, findings on Research Aim 2 were less clear as STEM major emerged as the strongest predictor of STEM research career plans. However, there were: (1) a clear relationship between strong formal organizational support and program satisfaction, and (2) a significant but modest relationship between program satisfaction and STEM research career plans. Racial/ethnic and gender comparisons revealed some interesting directions for future policy-relevant research and practice to broaden participation in STEM research careers. The relevance of study findings was also discussed with an emphasis on refining a strengths-based model of successful STEM outcomes, guiding future research as well as implications for program practice and policy.