Styles de soutien des superviseurs de recherche : relations avec les attitudes et le bien-être des étudiants gradués
The research supervisor’s support is key to the success in higher-level studies (Howells Stafford, Guijt, & Breadmore, 2017). The quality of the relationship between a student and his/her advisor is often claimed to foster student satisfaction and to encourage degree completion (Schlosser, Knox, Moskovitz, & Hill, 2003). However, support remains a construct that is operationalized in many different ways. It is thus difficult to prescribe specific behaviours supervisors should adopt to optimize support offered to students. This study examines how different supportive or unsupportive behaviours relate to graduate students’ wellbeing and attitudes towards research. 203 graduate students were recruited to complete an online survey measuring their perceptions of the support they received from their supervisor and their own wellbeing and attitudes towards their studies. Whereas the hypotheses predicted that different demonstrations of support (affective and instrumental) would be linked differentially to student outcomes (satisfaction, engagement, wellbeing, etc.), results show that instrumental support explains a larger part of the variance of the outcomes. However, it is micromanagement that best explains undesirable states such as negative affect and work related strains. Supportive behaviours (affective and instrumental) and micromanagement are statistically distinct, suggesting the latter may exert a harmful influence despite other demonstrations of support towards students. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Satisfaction Engagement Supervisor support Graduate students Wellbeing