The Tenure-Track System and Academic Research Productivity: Evidence from Reforms in Chinese Universities
93 Pages Posted: 29 Sep 2020 Last revised: 9 Jan 2023
Date Written: February 22, 2021
Abstract
In recent decades, many European and Asian universities have reformed their personnel practices from traditional systems, which grant faculty members permanent employment from the time of hire, to tenure-track systems that require passing a review of research achievements. Using personnel system reforms of economics departments in China as a quasi-experiment, we compare effects of tenure-track and traditional personnel systems on faculty’s research productivity, and investigate to what extent does the adoption of tenure-track system contribute to the recent increase in global rankings of China’s economic research. We find that tenure-track faculty publish 67.5 percent more articles in the top and secondary field journals in economics than those hired under the traditional system. Further investigation shows that the positive effect mainly stems from intensified peer competition, research focus shifting, and increased research collaboration. We also find that the tenure-track system generates positive spillover effects on non-tenure-track faculty.
Keywords: Tenure-Track, Research Productivity, China, University
JEL Classification: I23, J24, J44, O31
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation