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Research incentives and research output

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Abstract

This paper first briefly reviews the worldwide development of the size of the university sector, its research merits and authorities’ use of incentive systems for its academic staff. Then, the paper develops a static model of a researcher’s behaviour, aiming to discuss how different salary reward schemes and teaching obligations influence his or her research merits. Moreover, special focus is placed on discussing the importance of the researcher’s skills and of working in solid academic environments for quality research. The main findings are as follows: First, research achievements will improve irrespective of the relative impact quantity and quality of research have on researchers’ salaries. Second, small changes in fixed salary and teaching duties will not influence the amount of time academics spend on research and, as such, their research merits. Third, because research productivity, i.e. the number of pages written and research quality increase with the researcher’s skills and effort, both these figures signal a researcher’s potential when adjusting for his or her age and the kind of research carried out. Finally, because researchers’ utility depends on factors beyond salary and leisure time, employers have a number of instruments to use in order to attract skilled researchers in a globalised market.

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Notes

  1. In Hanssen and Jørgensen (2014), Hanssen and Jørgensen (2015) and Hanssen et al. (2018), a researcher’s skills are measured by the number of times his works are cited.

  2. Here and throughout the article the notation YX means the partial derivative of Y with respect to X etc.

  3. A thorough discussion of quasi-concave functions can be found in Sydsæther and Hammond (2006).

  4. It is reasonable to assume a positive monotonic relationship between the number of pages produced (P) and the number of article equivalent (AE). Note that AE is not the same as the value of the publication indicator (PI) used in Norway. PI is a weighted average of the number of article equivalents using the journals’ impact factors as weights. Hence, the value of PI depends on both P and Q.

  5. The assumption made that the marginal influence on salary of increased research quality is non-increasing may be open to debate, but most universities (at least in Europe) have wage systems that limit large wage differentials among the staff.

  6. \( {\left(-\frac{\partial I}{\partial t}\right)}_{Q={Q}^{\ast }}=\frac{Q_t^{\hbox{'}}}{Q_I^{\hbox{'}}} \) and/or \( {\left(-\frac{\partial I}{\partial T}\right)}_{Q={Q}^{\ast }}=\frac{Q_T^{\hbox{'}}}{Q_I^{\hbox{'}}} \) diminish rapidly.

  7. In Norway, for example, general guidelines indicate that professors and associate professors should not use more than approximately 50% of their working time on teaching and administrative duties. Figures from Egeland and Bergene (2012) show, however, that these groups use only 30% of their total working time for research.

  8. Based on our a priori assumptions about the functional forms, it is reasonable to assume that the second-order conditions are met.

  9. \( {\left(-\frac{\partial T}{\partial t}\right)}_{Q={Q}^{\ast }}=\frac{Q_t}{Q_T} \) .

  10. \( {\left(-\frac{\partial E}{\partial P}\right)}_{S={S}^{\ast }}=\frac{S_P}{S_E} \), \( {\left(-\frac{\partial L}{\partial P}\right)}_{U={U}^{\ast }}=\frac{U_P}{U_L} \) .

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  12. \( {\left(-\frac{\partial S}{\partial Q}\right)}_{U={U}^{\ast }}=\frac{U_Q}{U_S} \)

  13. \( \frac{U_S}{U_P}=\frac{\beta_1}{\beta_3} \), \( \frac{U_S}{U_Q}=\frac{\beta_1}{\beta_4}, \) \( \frac{U_P}{U_Q}=\frac{\beta_3}{\beta_4},\frac{U_L}{U_S}=\frac{\beta_2}{L\bullet {\beta}_1}\ \frac{U_L}{U_P}=\frac{\beta_2}{L\bullet {\beta}_3} \), \( \frac{U_L}{U_Q}=\frac{\beta_2}{L\bullet {\beta}_4}. \) A thorough discussion of different types of utility functions can be found in Nechyba (2011).

  14. Our specification of the quality function implies that the marginal rates of substitution between t, T and I are holding quality constant are \( \frac{\partial t}{\partial T}=-\frac{\alpha_2}{\alpha_1}\bullet \frac{t}{T},\frac{\partial t}{\partial I}=-\frac{\alpha_3}{\alpha_1}\bullet \frac{t}{I} \),\( \frac{\partial T}{\partial I}=-\frac{\alpha_3}{\alpha_2}\bullet \frac{T}{I} \)

  15. The values of τ0, τ1, τ2 and D can, to some extent, vary among universities within the same country, but in many European countries, trade unions and central authorities can affect these figures, in particular τ0.

  16. The interrelationships between the effects on work effort of intrinsic motivation and external payment schemes is discussed in Grepperud and Pedersen (2006).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nord University Business School, 8049, Bodø, Norway

    Finn Jørgensen & Thor-Erik Sandberg Hanssen

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  1. Finn Jørgensen
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Correspondence to Finn Jørgensen.

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Jørgensen, F., Hanssen, TE.S. Research incentives and research output. High Educ 76, 1029–1049 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-018-0238-1

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