Modelling research productivity of university researchers using research incentives to crowd-in motivation

PurposeThe overall aim of this research is to propose a research incentive framework for academic staff members at the South African universities of technology (UoTs).Design/methodology/approachAn exploratory case study methodology was applied, while a questionnaire was used to (1) identify the factors that stimulated staff members' research activities; (2) assess what was considered an appropriate way of measuring research productivity and (3) identify appropriate research awards, recognition and rewards. Working from the self-determination theory (SDT), the results of the data analysis were used to develop a framework for ensuring crowding-in of research incentives into intrinsic motivation. This framework is anchored on the three main components (competence, autonomy and social relatedness) of the cognitive evaluation theory (CET) that provides guidelines for the design of a research incentive system.FindingsIntrinsically motivated researchers tend to conduct research for their inherent satisfaction because it meets their basic individual psychological need for competence. Existing research incentives and productivity systems fail to provide intrinsic motivation for researchers. Recommendation for a framework for designing research incentive systems is centred on the researchers themselves. This approach contributes to a research environment that provides space for autonomy, creativity, flexibility and innovation and consequently a successful research output that is hinged on the ability to keep researchers intrinsically motivated.Originality/valueA conceptual framework is proposed specifically for technically focused UoT suggesting that crowding-in the motivation of researcher incentives results in improved intrinsic-based motivation. The autonomy of researchers in particular is regarded as the most important driver of such motivation, with the availability of resources, collegiality and research skills and development ranking as the most important aspects specifically driving intrinsic motivation. The framework not only provides a tool for institutions of higher education focused on developing the technical skills, but also offers management at any type of university challenged with low research outputs and a poor research ethos with an alternative method to improve both the quantity and quality of research outputs.

Stakeholders’ individual and organizational capacity to acquire, assess, adapt and apply evidence for maternal, neonatal and child health in policymaking in Burkina Faso

Introduction: In Burkina Faso, the systematic use of research evidence in maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) decision-making is not yet institutionalized despite previous initiatives to promote the evidence to policy link. This study aimed to assess individual and organizational capacities of MNCH stakeholders for evidence-to-policy link in Burkina Faso. Methods: The design was a cross-sectional study conducted during a national MNCH stakeholders’ engagement event organised in Ouagadougou in November 2015 by Burkina Faso Ministry of Health. A self-assessment survey using structured pre-tested questionnaire was administered to assess participants’ individual and organisational capacities to acquire, appraise, adapt and apply evidence in decision-making. Results: The mean rating (MNR) for individual knowledge about initiating/conducting research and ability to access and use existing research evidence ranged from 2.76-2.96 on the scale of 5. The MNR of the capacity to assess the authenticity, validity, reliability, quality and applicability of research evidence ranged from 2.72 to 3.08. Respondents rated their organizational level of research incentives including availability of research grants, in-service research training, and provision of research facilities very low (MNR=1.60). The MNR of organizational capacity to initiate research, source for research evidence, assess the validity and applicability of research evidence, and incentives to encourage the application of research evidence ranged from 2.16 to 2.76. Conclusion: The outcome of this study demonstrates the urgent need for capacity enhancement at individual level for MNCH stakeholders in Burkina Faso and the creation of enabling environment for promotion of evidence use at organizational level, through research incentives.

The Impacts of Incentives for International Publications on Research Cultures in Chinese Humanities and Social Sciences

Incentives for improving research productivity at universities prevail in global academia. However, the rationale, methodology, and impact of such incentives and consequent evaluation regimes are in need of scrutinization. This paper explores the influences of financial and career-related publishing incentive schemes on research cultures. It draws on an analysis of 75 interviews with academics, senior university administrators, and journal editors from China, a country that has seen widespread reliance on international publication counts in research evaluation and reward systems. The study focuses on humanities and social sciences (HSS) as disciplinary sites, which embody distinct characteristics and have experienced the introduction of incentive schemes in China since the early 2000s. Findings reveal tensions between internationalization and indigenization, quality and quantity, integrity and instrumentalism, equity and inequity in Chinese academia. In particular, we argue that a blanket incentive scheme could reinforce a managerial culture in higher education, encourage performative objectification of academics, and jeopardize their agency. We thereby challenge ‘one-size-fits-all’ policymaking, and suggest instead that institutions should have the opportunity to adopt an ethical and ‘human-oriented’ approach when developing their research incentives and evaluation mechanisms.

Perceptions, Challenges, and Suggestions for Improvement Research Production

There is a dearth of empirical research conducted to investigate the challenges of research productivity among faculty members at universities. This study aims to explore perceptions and challenges of research production. This research is quantitative. Data was taken using an instrument in the form of a questionnaire. The population and sample in this study amounted to 55 people. The results of this study indicate that long waiting periods for manuscript publication, lack of time allocation for research, and lack of research training programs are the most prominent challenges in research production. The participants have also submitted several suggestions to increase research products such as conducting research training programs, providing research incentives, and providing adequate research facilities. So, it can be concluded that members are aware of the importance of research publications in their career advancement. They also provide some of the challenges faced when writing research such as insufficient time allocation for research, lack of research training, and lack of research facilities.

EXPRESS: Faculty Research Incentives and Business School Health: A New Perspective from and for Marketing

Grounded in sociological agency theory, the authors study the role of the faculty research incentive system in the academic research conducted at business schools and business school health. The authors surveyed 234 marketing professors and completed 22 interviews with 14 (associate) deans and 8 external institution stakeholders. They find that research quantity contributes to the research health of the school, but not to other aspects of business school health. r-quality of research (i.e., rigor) contributes more strongly to the research health of the school than research quantity. q-quality (i.e., practical importance) of research does not contribute to the research health of the school but contributes positively to teaching health and several other dimensions of business school health. Faculty research incentives are misaligned: (1) when monitoring research faculty, the number of publications receives too much weight, while creativity, literacy, relevance, and awards receive too little weight; and (2) faculty feel that they are insufficiently compensated for their research, while (associate) deans feel they are compensated too much for their research. These incentive misalignments are largest in schools that perform the worst on research ( r- and q-) quality. The authors explore how business schools and faculty can remedy these misalignments.

Building Momentum to Realign Incentives to Support Open Science

The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the urgent need to strengthen global scientific collaboration, and to ensure the fundamental right to universal access to scientific progress and its applications. Open Science (OS) is central to achieving these goals. It aims to make science accessible, transparent, and effective by providing barrier-free access to scientific publications, data, and infrastructures, along with open software, Open Educational Resources, and open technologies. OS also promotes public trust in science at a time when it has never been more important to do so. Over the past decade, momentum towards the widespread adoption of OS practices has been primarily driven by declarations (e.g., DORA, the Leiden Manifesto). These serve an important role, but for OS to truly take root, researchers also must be fully incentivized and rewarded for its practice. This requires research funders and academic leaders to take the lead in collaborating, with researchers in designing, and implementing new incentive structures, and to actively work to socialize these throughout the research ecosystem. The US National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) Roundtable on Aligning Research Incentives for OS is one such effort. This paper examines the strategy behind convening the Roundtable, its current participant makeup, focus, and outputs. It also explores how this approach might be expanded and adapted throughout the global OS community.

CHANGING RESEARCH PARADIGM IN THE FACE OF A GLOBAL PANDEMIC: FORESEEABLE IMPACT AND ADAPTIVE MEASURES IN ACADEMIC RESEARCH IN THE FUTURE

The Coronavirus disease 2 (Covid-19) pandemic has led to a massive rise in research in a bid to understand more about the new disease and cope better with the pandemic. The need to socially distance and limited human movement in open spaces since the COVID-19 outbreak have brought most forms of research to a standstill. While most research incentives have been directed towards research regarding the pandemic, diminished patient visits, have paralysed all the studies requiring personal and physical examination. Majority of the social interactions have been reduced to a screen, and this is also the new practice in the research realm. This unique situation calls for a need to re-examine research practices and reinvent novel methods for quality research. While it is prudent to step up research to understand the disease and its impact on varied conditions, the situation also necessitates a close watch for misinformation, erroneous reporting, and failure of ethical research. Moreover, there is a felt need to derive validated tools for remote assessment to minimise risk to the patients and physicians alike. In this brief, we discuss the perceived changes and potential areas for erroneous research reporting while providing possible solutions for fruitful research in the peri-pandemic period. We also identify new methods of conducting studies and the setbacks that could be faced while carrying out such tasks, including those of methodological, ethical and financial nature. We hope these may shape researcher perspectives and help them to conduct ethical and valid research in these, particularly trying times.

Multitask Agents and Incentives: The Case of Teaching and Research for University Professors*†

This paper exploits a natural experiment to study the effects of providing stronger research incentives to faculty members on the universities’ average teaching and research performances. The results indicate that professors are induced to reallocate effort from teaching towards research. Moreover, tighter research requirements affect the faculty composition, as they lead lower research ability professors to leave. Given the estimated positive correlation between teaching and research ability, those who leave are also characterized by lower teaching ability. The average effect on teaching for the university is therefore ambiguous, as positive composition effects countervail effort substitution.

Inconspicuous, recovering, or northward shift: status and management of the white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) in Atlantic Canada

Although white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) have been considered rare in Atlantic Canada waters, recent sighting records indicate a potentially increasing presence. We combine historical to present sighting data with satellite telemetry tracks of large juvenile and adult white sharks tagged in US (n = 9) and Atlantic Canada waters (n = 17) to show seasonal white shark presence and distribution in Atlantic Canada, returns by individuals over multiple years, and high site fidelity to the region. Telemetry data indicate that white sharks are a more common and consistent occurrence in Canadian waters than previously thought, presenting two potential scenarios: (i) tagging technology is revealing white shark presence that was historically cryptic and (or) (ii) a northward range expansion of white sharks in the Northwest Atlantic, potentially due to climate change, population recovery, and (or) increasing pinniped prey. Given combined sighting and telemetry data indicate a current need for proactive management of white sharks in Atlantic Canada waters, we propose the basis for a management action plan, addressing conservation priorities, management goals, and research incentives while considering the potential for human–shark interactions.