Career aspirations, networking behaviors, and career‐related outcomes: Foreign academics in business schools

Abstract This paper draws on the career self‐regulation framework to examine the mediating effects of internal networking and external networking behaviors on the relationships between foreign academics' career aspirations and three career‐related outcomes: (1) international career mobility, (2) promotion, and (3) research productivity. This paper also examines the moderating effects of the origin of foreign academics' PhD degrees (domestic vs. foreign) and gender on the relationships between career aspirations and networking behaviors. Using time‐lagged, multisource data from 244 foreign academics in various Japanese business schools, the findings suggest that external networking mediates the positive relationships between career aspirations and both international career mobility and research productivity. Furthermore, academics with foreign PhDs and male academics were more likely to engage in external networking than those with domestic degrees and female academics. PhD origin and gender also strengthened the indirect effects of career aspirations on international mobility and research productivity. The findings contribute to research on career self‐management, career mobility, networking behaviors, and academic careers.