Academic career intention beyond the PhD : can the theory of planned behavior explain gender differences?

Are women less interested in becoming professors than men? We applied the theory of planned behavior ( TPB ) to investigate the intention to pursue an academic career. Postdocs who recently finished their PhD at a G erman university participated in an online survey ( N  = 380, mean age: 33; 45% women). Women reported lower academic career intentions ( d  = 0.40); TPB variables (attitude, subjective norm, self‐efficacy) explained 87% of this gender difference. At an 8 month follow‐up, we found no gender difference in the intention to continue in an academic career among the postdocs who were still working in academia ( n  = 129). Addressing TPB constructs early in women's academic careers could encourage them to remain in academia and strive for a professorship.