Supporting data for Beyond the Academic Track: How Chinese and Italian PhD Students Trade Off

This dataset, titled "Beyond the Academic Track: How Chinese and Italian PhD Students Trade Off Various Factors in Competitive Labor Markets," contains harmonised discrete-choice experiment (DCE) panel data collected from current PhD students in China (including Mainland, Hong Kong, and Macao) and Italy during 2024–2025. The data support analysis of how doctoral candidates evaluate multi-attribute job offers composed of salary, work location, work autonomy, research engagement, promotion timing, job security (permanence), and sector of activity, and how these preferences interact with demographic and life-course variables. The files include both cleaned, analyzable panel datasets and the original raw survey exports for each country.Files and scope:503 HK: panel data (N = 503 respondents; 13,078 choice-task rows) for Mainland-origin PhD students enrolled in Hong Kong universities; cleaned and converted from the original raw responses.660 China: combined China panel (N = 660 respondents; 17,160 choice-task rows), which builds on the Hong Kong sample by adding 157 records from Mainland China and Macao; cleaned and ready for mixed-logit and simulation analyses.625 Italy: Italy panel data (N = 625 respondents; 16,250 choice-task rows); cleaned and harmonised to match the comparative attribute structure.original for China: original/raw survey export covering Mainland, Hong Kong, and Macao respondents.original for Italy: original/raw survey export for the Italian sample.Data structure and variables:Each panel file contains repeated choice-task observations per respondent (12 block-specific tasks plus one anchor task) and includes seven experimental job-attribute variables (Salary, Work location, Work autonomy, Engagement in research, Professional advancement/promotion timing, Job security/bianzhi, Sector of activity) together with demographic and control variables (Discipline, Age, Gender, PhD year, Number of children, Childbearing plans, Parents’ education). Salary and promotion levels are operationalised with country-appropriate brackets and sector-specific distinctions; location is coded using tiered city levels for China and same/other/abroad categories for Italy. Intended uses and restrictions:The dataset enables estimation of mixed-logit models, relative-importance calculations, scenario simulations, and interaction analyses to quantify trade-offs PhD students make between material (salary, security) and intrinsic (research, autonomy) job attributes. Sensitive identifiers were removed; original recruitment contact lists are kept separately and are not included in the shared analytic files. Users should note the non-probability, multi-institutional sampling frame and the survey’s stated-preference (hypothetical) design when generalising results.Methodological and technical notes:Surveys were administered via Qualtrics, harmonised across Chinese, Italian and English language versions, blocked into 12 questionnaire versions with an anchor task, and analysed using mixed-logit techniques (SPSS v18; results reported in the thesis). Software information: SPSS v18 (proprietary) and SAS 9.4M6 (proprietary) were used in processing and analysis. Data were collected under ethics approval (HKU HREC EA230578); cleaned analytic datasets contain no direct identifiers.