When talent goes unrecognized: racial discrimination, community recognition, and STEM postdocs’ science identities

Abstract

Purpose While science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) postdoctoral scholars often enter their positions with strong science identities, racially marginalized scholars are often not treated as scientists, which can weaken their science identities. This study aims to examine how racial discrimination negatively affects their science identities in STEM and the importance of community recognition in mitigating these effects. Design/methodology/approach The authors use reflected appraisals and identity theory to theoretically guide this work. The data are based on a survey of 215 postdoctoral scholars in STEM disciplines. Findings The authors find that community recognition mediates the negative relationship between perceived discrimination and postdoctoral scholars’ science identities. Research limitations/implications The study shows the importance of recognizing the achievements and identities of underrepresented STEM scholars to counteract the chronic and cumulative identity nonverification that leaves talent unrecognized and disrupts scholars’ science identities. Originality/value The authors explore the negative impact of discriminatory experiences on the importance individuals place on their identities as scientists and if this can be affected by the degree to which they feel that other scientists recognize them as competent scientists among a group of scholars who have earned the highest of academic degrees, and who are also relatively understudied: postdocs.