Abstract
Many contemporary analyses criticise metrics-based evaluation in the higher education context as a neoliberal technology, notwithstanding the different national contexts and organisational topographies in which metrics are used. This Anglo-German study offers a comparative exploration of the role of metrics in two contrasting cases: highly developed, state-driven sectoral use of metrics in England, and more dispersed, decentralised use of metrics in Germany, in the case of research particularly. This survey-based study examines academics’ perceptions of fairness of accountability practices associated with metrics-based evaluations at the organisational level. Drawing on organisational justice theory, the analysis focuses on the extent that academic evaluations of fairness are underpinned by contextual evaluations linked to organisational practices or more abstract evaluations of these measures. In the English context, fairness evaluations were more related to organisational uses of metrics. In the German context, negative justice evaluations do not seem closely associated with organisational factors but relate to a cultural critique of metrics. The analysis demonstrates that academics may hold views on metrics which are contingent not only on their perceived accuracy as measures but also on their perceived efficacy as tools which support broader sectoral and organisational developments, such that metrics start to lead their own life in organisational contexts. The comparative dimension to the study suggests that in some cases, context-sensitive use of metrics can enable emancipation from informal power networks in academia.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bieletzki, N. (2018). The power of collegiality. A qualitative analysis of university presidents’ leadership in Germany. Springer Fachmedien.
Bleiklie, I., Enders, J., & Lepori, B. (Eds.). (2017). Managing universities: policy and organisational change from a Western European comparative perspective. Palgrave Macmillan.
Bloch, R., & Mitterle, A. (2017). On stratification in changing higher education: The “analysis of status” revisited. Higher Education, 73(6), 929–946.
Bloch, R., Kreckel, R., Mitterle, A., & Stock, M. (2018). Stratification through internationality in German higher education. In C. Maxwell, U. Deppe, H.-H. Krüger, & W. Helsper (Eds.), Elite education and internationalisation. From the early years to higher education (pp. 257–278). Palgrave Macmillan.
Bromley, P., & Meyer, J. W. (2015). Hyper-organisation. Global organisational expansion. Oxford University Press.
Brunsson, N. (1986). Organizing for inconsistencies. On organisational conflict, depression and hypocrisy as substitutes for action. Scandinavian Journal of Management Studies, 2(3–4), 165–185.
Brunsson, N., & Sahlin-Andersson, K. (2000). Constructing organisations: the example of public sector reform. Organisation Studies, 21(4), 721–746.
Colquitt, J. A., Scott, B. A., Rodell, J. B., Long, D. M., Zapata, C. P., Conlon, D. E., & Wesson, M. J. (2013). Justice at the millennium, a decade later: a meta-analytic test of social exchange and affect-based perspectives. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(2), 199–236.
Desrosieres, A. (2001). How real are statistics? Four possible attitudes. Social Research, 68(2), 339–355.
Espeland, W. N., & Sauder, M. (2007). Rankings and reactivity. How public measures recreate social worlds. American Journal of Sociology, 113(1), 1–40.
Espeland, W. N., & Sauder, M. (2016). Engines of anxiety: academic rankings, reputation and accountability. Russell Sage Foundation.
Greenberg, J. (1990). Organisational Justice: yesterday, today and tomorrow. Journal of Management, 16(2), 399–432.
Gunn, A. (2018). Metrics and methodologies for measuring teaching quality in higher education: developing the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). Educational Review, 70(2), 129–148.
Harley, S. (2002). The impact of research selectivity on academic work and identity in UK universities. Studies in Higher Education, 27(2), 187–205.
Hazelkorn, E. (2011). Rankings and the reshaping of higher education: the battle for world class excellence. Palgrave Macmillan.
Kleimann, B. (2019). (German) Universities as multiple hybrid organisations. Higher Education, 77(6), 1085–1102.
Kolsaker, A. (2008). Academic professionalism in the era of managerialism: a study of English universities. Studies in Higher Education, 33(5), 513–525.
Krücken, G., & Meier, F. (2006). Turning the university into an organisational actor. In G. S. Drori, J. W. Meyer, & H. Hwang (Eds.), Globalization and organisation. World society and organisational change (pp. 241–257). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lenger, A. (2018). Socialization in the academic and professional field: revealing the homo oeconomicusacademicus. Historical Social Research, 43(3), 39–62.
Mau, S. (2019). The metric society. The quantification of the social world. Polity.
Muller, J. (2018). The tyranny of metrics. Princeton University Press.
Nowakoski, J. M., & Conlon, D. E. (2005). Organisational justice: looking back, looking forward. International Journal of Conflict Management, 16(1), 4–29.
O’Connell, C., O’Siochru, C., & Rao, N. (2019). Academic perspectives on metrics: procedural justice as a key factor in evaluations of fairness. Studies in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2019.1643306
Oancea, A. (2014). Research assessment as governance technology in the United Kingdom: findings from a survey of RAE 2008 impacts. ZeitschriftfürErziehungswissenschaft, 17(6), 83–110.
Paradeise, C., & Thoenig, J.-C. (2015). In search of academic quality. Palgrave Macmillan.
Pollock, N., D’Adderio, L., Williams, R., & Leforestier, L. (2018). Conforming or transforming? How organisations respond to multiple rankings. Accounting, Organisations and Society, 64, 55–68.
Ramirez, F. O. (2010). Accounting for excellence: transforming universities into organisational actors. In L. M. Portnoi, V. D. Rust, & S. S. Bagley (Eds.), Higher education, policy, and the global competition phenomenon (pp. 43–58). Palgrave Macmillan.
Ranson, S. (2003). Public accountability in the age of neo-liberal governance. Journal of Education Policy, 18(5), 459–480.
Smith, J. (2017). Target-setting, early-career academic identities and the measurement culture of UK higher education. Higher Education Research & Development, 36(3), 597–611.
Spence, C. (2018). ‘Judgement’ versus ‘metrics’ in higher education. Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-018-0300-z
Stevens, M. L., Armstrong, E. A., & Arum, R. (2008). Sieve, incubator, temple, hub: Empirical and theoretical advances in the sociology of higher education. Annual Review of Sociology, 34(1), 127–151.
Tight, M. (2014). Collegiality and managerialism: A false dichotomy? Evidence from the higher education literature. Tertiary Education and Management, 20(4), 294–306.
Universities UK. (2017). Review of the teaching excellence framework year 2. London: Universities UK. http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-analysis/reports/Documents/2017/review-of-the-teaching-excellence-framework-year-2.pdf. Accessed 31 May 2020
Wallenburg, I., Quartz, J., & Bal, R. (2019). Making hospitals governable: performativity and institutional work in ranking practices. Administration & Society, 51(4), 637–663. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095399716680054
Whitley, R. (2012). Transforming universities. National Conditions of Their Varied OrganisationalActorhood. Minerva, 50(4), 493–510.
Willetts, D. (2013). Robbins revisited: bigger and better higher education. Social Market Foundation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bloch, R., Hartl, J., O’Connell, C. et al. English and German academics’ perspectives on metrics in higher education: evaluating dimensions of fairness and organisational justice. High Educ 83, 765–785 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-021-00703-w
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-021-00703-w