Exploring expatriate academics’ perceptions of the impact of job security on their academic identities and the quality of their academic experiences

This study explores the perceptions of expatriate academics of the impact of job security on their academic identities and the quality of their academic lives. Job security and its links to academic identity and quality of higher education have not been explored in depth in the literature. Within the conceptual framework of the interpretive paradigm, using purposive sampling, sixteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with women and men expatriate academics in six different private universities in a Gulf State. Results showed that most of the participants felt that the precarity of their work is enforced by management that seems to preserve the right of termination regardless of the length of the contract or the performance of the academics, which resulted in having neurotic, uncertain identities. These uncertainties have negatively impacted the quality of their academic experiences and of their teaching. The study has implications for policy makers who need, in order to enhance the quality of higher education, to create a safe and secure context where job stability and security are prioritised over abrupt decisions of terminations.