The rationality of decisions in the university professors’ inter-professional transitions

Abstract This article presents a study analyzing the rationality of the decisions made by university professors in their transition from other professions to the teaching career. The study analyzed 357 respondents who understand to have changed professions when deciding to pursue a career as a higher education professor. Four hypotheses were evaluated, establishing links among the influence of the previous profession, the transition drivers, the attributes of the transition, and the resources triggered by the individual on the rationality of their decisions. The results showed that attributes and resources influence rational decisions and choices that extrapolate rationality. Also, the lower workload in the current profession allows the person to identify more positively the attributes of the experienced transition. Finally, the perception of uncertainty in the previous profession leads to more emotional decisions and are more influenced by variations in the context. Overall, while current studies strongly consider emotion in the decision-making process, the findings point out that balancing rationality and subjectivity is important to reduce future frustration in career decisions.