IS EMPLOYMENT ALONGSIDE Phd STUDY BETTER? A SCOPING REVIEW

Abstract

The increasing number of doctoral students who are employed while studying for a PhD is commonly presumed to be at risk of delayed completion or even dropout. This study investigated whether employed PhD students in the public and private sectors play a significant role in completion outcomes in African universities, as presented in recent literature. A scoping review method was adopted. The key terms were identified, and three database search engines were selected for the search (EBSCOhost, Scopus, and Web of Science (WoS). Literature was retrieved, reviewed, and analysed using generated themes. Through the thematic approach, some main causes of the problems were identified and presented, and among the themes are that employed PhD students lack consistency due to work responsibilities; issues such as long working hours and heavy workloads alongside PhD studies lead to repeated procrastination. Funding constraints force African PhD students to seek employment to sustain themselves and complete their PhD. The study also reveals that intensifying awareness of study-work-life balance initiatives among PhD students is pivotal to PhD success. Following the findings of this study, recommendations are made.