International postdoctoral mobility and career effect in Italian academia – 1986-2015

This paper investigates the effect of international postdoctoral mobility on academic career. International postdoctoral appointments may help to expand researchers’ scientific and technical human capital while at the same time ensuring career stability. We use duration models on individual data to predict promotion from assistant professor to associate or full professor positions. Using a panel dataset of 18 thousands Italian academics in all disciplines over 30 years, we find that international postdoctoral appointments have a positive effect on career outcomes and reduce the waiting time for promotion. This provides evidence that early stage international mobility is beneficial for academics' career in the long-term. We use bibliometric indicators to measure different dimensions of social capital which affect researchers’ career, namely: localism, home country linkages and expanding the scientific network. The article contributes to a better understanding of the role of meritocratic and non-meritocratic factors in achieving scarce and highly competitive job positions in academia.