Balancing early-career paths as pracademics: a collaborative autoethnography study in China

Pracademics are professionals who combine two roles as scholars and practitioners. Despite pracademics’ unique contributions in connecting knowledge and practice for improved academic understanding and development outcomes, how they form their identities and balance their roles, particularly in early careers, remains underexplored. This study investigates how early-career pracademics balance career paths and form a pracademic identity within the Chinese nonprofit sector. Using collaborative autoethnography, this study analyses the two authors’ experiences of building a nonprofit while pursuing PhD degrees. Our findings reveal three sub-processes of pracademic identity formation: exposure, dissatisfaction and opportunities, and integration. We also identify strategies employed by pracademics at micro, meso, and macro levels to balance academic and practical roles. This study concludes that pracademics in developing contexts like China can effectively navigate their dual roles by aligning with policy orientations, identifying power relations, and leveraging research strengths.