Abstract
ABSTRACT Theories of what determines research performance have evolved from political and economic science, amongst other disciplines. Contemporary research shows that universities have a problematic work environment characterized by bullying, insecure jobs, and dysfunctional leadership. In this study, we explore the relationship between the psycho-social work environment (PSWE) and research performance. The study consists of longitudinal data from a medical university in Sweden. PSWE was assessed by employee surveys and the outcome was register data from 8 years of bibliometrics and external funding. SEM-analyses were applied building on theoretical and empirical models. Results show that PSWE explained future research performance, with the highest impact on the quality of publications. The most important PSWE factors for good performance were fair, considerate leaders and a supportive social climate. The results suggest that improving the psycho-social work environment at the universities could be one strategy to improve research performance.
Highlights
Science is one of the driving forces of innovation in modern society
Results from the structural equation models (SEM) analysis are presented with the appropriate figures for SEM indicating the different variables and the structural relationships between these different concepts
The JDC categories are based on the job demand and job control items assessed in accordance with the Job demand/control model (JDC) (Karasek and Theorell 1990)
Summary
Science is one of the driving forces of innovation in modern society. Throughout history, scientific discoveries have had great impact on the development of modern societies, not least by advancing public health and welfare. The return on investment in research and how to increase it is frequently discussed. Theories regarding what determines research performance and what constitutes an efficient research system have emerged from, amongst others, the political and economic sciences. Sandstrom et al summarized the theories in a recent paper in three main categories (1) the level of competition including share of external and performance-based funding and the existence of national evaluation systems, (2) the level of university autonomy including financial, organizational, staffing and academic autonomy and (3) academic freedom (Sandstrom and Van den Besselaar 2018)
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