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Factors Influencing Membership of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Geological Survey Biologists in the American Fisheries Society
Author(s) -
Lauber T. Bruce,
Taylor Eric J.,
Knuth Barbara A.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
fisheries
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.725
H-Index - 79
eISSN - 1548-8446
pISSN - 0363-2415
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8446-34.1.9
Subject(s) - wildlife , fish <actinopterygii> , service (business) , geological survey , public relations , professional association , fishery , political science , business , ecology , biology , marketing , paleontology
Membership in scientific societies is an avenue biologists may use to enhance their professional capabilities. We studied factors influencing federal biologists' membership in scientific societies, including the American Fisheries Society. We conducted an Internet survey of 3,755 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and 932 U.S. Geological Survey professionals. A greater proportion of U.S. Geological Survey biologists (90.2%) than U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists (51.8%) were members of scientific societies. The factors most consistently correlated with membership in the American Fisheries Society included minimal external constraints, supervisor support, and membership of friends, peers, and supervisors in scientific societies. These results suggest that membership in scientific societies is influenced by the organizational culture of agencies. Agencies seeking to increase their employees' membership in scientific societies will be most successful if they create a culture in which involvement in scientific societies is expected and in which supervisors also participate.