Is Scientific Performance a Function of Funds?

SFB 649 Discussion Paper No. 2017-028

41 Pages Posted: 13 Jun 2020 Last revised: 5 Mar 2018

See all articles by Alona Zharova

Alona Zharova

Humboldt University of Berlin

Wolfgang Karl Härdle

Blockchain Research Center Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin; Charles University; National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University; Asian Competitiveness Institute; Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest

Stefan Lessmann

School of Business and Economics, Humboldt-University of Berlin

Date Written: December 11, 2017

Abstract

The management of universities demands data on teaching and research performance. While teaching parameters can be measured via student performance and teacher evaluation programs, the connection of research outputs and their grant antecedents is much harder to check, test and understand. This paper elicits the interdependence structure between third-party expenses (TPE), publications, citations and academic age. To describe the relationship, we analyze individual level data from a sample of professorships from a leading research university and a Scopus database for the period 2001 to 2015. Using estimates from a PVARX model, impulse response functions and a forecast error variance decomposition, we show that analyzing on the high aggregation level of universities does not reflect the behavior of its faculties. We explain the differences in relationship structure between indicators for social sciences and humanities, life sciences and mathematical and natural sciences. For instance, for mathematics and some fields of social sciences and humanities the relationship between the TPE and the number of publications is insignificant, however, the influence of the TPE on the number of citation is significant and positive that indicates the difference between quality and quantity of research outputs. The paper also proposes a visualization of the cooperation between faculties and research interdisciplinarity via the co-authorship structure among publications. We discuss the implications for policy and decision making and suggest recommendations for research management of universities.

Keywords: Research Performance; Decision Making; Third-Party Funds; Publications; Citations; PVARX Model

JEL Classification: M10; C32; C55

Suggested Citation

Zharova, Alona and Härdle, Wolfgang Karl and Lessmann, Stefan, Is Scientific Performance a Function of Funds? (December 11, 2017). SFB 649 Discussion Paper No. 2017-028, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3085865 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3085865

Alona Zharova

Humboldt University of Berlin ( email )

Unter den Linden 6
Berlin, AK 10099
Germany

Wolfgang Karl Härdle (Contact Author)

Blockchain Research Center Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin ( email )

Unter den Linden 6
Berlin, D-10099
Germany

Charles University ( email )

Celetná 13
Dept Math Physics
Praha 1, 116 36
Czech Republic

National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University ( email )

No. 1001, Daxue Rd. East Dist.
Hsinchu City 300093
Taiwan

Asian Competitiveness Institute ( email )

Singapore

Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest ( email )

Bucharest
Romania

Stefan Lessmann

School of Business and Economics, Humboldt-University of Berlin ( email )

Unter den Linden 6
Berlin, Berlin 10099
Germany

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