Interviews with professors 

The population for sampling consisted of professors at German universities. Professors are obligatorily represented in appointment committees, giving them experience and knowledge of appointment procedures. To select interview partners, job advertisements for professorships from 2020 to 2022 were systematically screened. Sources for this were the website academics.de and the German journal Forschung und Lehre. A heterogeneous sample with regard to disciplinary contexts was created.The job advertisements served as an information source for identifying potential interview partners. Those professors listed as contact persons in the advertisements were contacted, as it was assumed that they had already gained experience as members of appointment committees and thus met the main criterion.