Academic Human Capital and Research Performance

Academic research has been considered a relevant research topic in academia. Universities have emerged as a key agent for innovation and knowledge generation. Recently, universities are betting on a paradigm shift based on research efficiency. In view of the changes in the universities' vision, and with the aim of responding to these new demands, academic research institutions have articulated new types of resources and different management procedures that favour their contribution and commitment to the processes of knowledge generation. Therefore, the determinants of academic researchers' performance have been postulated as variables to be addressed in the field of human resource management. This thesis highlights the role of academic researchers as a unit of analysis. More specifically, this work aims to provide an answer to understanding the relationship between human capital and the research performance of academics, as well as the effect of motivation and opportunity as moderating variables. Human capital at the organisational level has been studied through three main dimensions following the KSA model (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities). This framework is contextualised in the academic environment, considering its particularities. Moreover, motivations and opportunity can enhance human capital advantages and scientific performance. To this end, this thesis also proposes the use of the AMO approach (Abilities as Human Capital, Motivation and Opportunity) as a framework for study in academia. The results of the empirical analysis suggest that there is a direct and positive relationship between human capital and research performance. Our study shows that research knowledge and research abilities drive research activity. However, there is some negative relationship between proactive creativity and research performance. This result is surprising because all dimensions of human capital contribute to performance. Furthermore, the results suggest that motivation and opportunity moderate the relationship between human capital and research performance. From this perspective, the results confirmed the existence of a greater contribution of research motivation than opportunity. In addition, the thesis proposes and validates a scale specifically developed to measure the different dimensions of human capital of academic researchers. The use of this scale allows to consider those attributes necessary for research activity in order to understand the complex nature of the topic. The thesis also provides a measure of the incentives that are perceived by academic researchers as drivers of research activity in an integrative way and at the individual level. To this end, researchers' perception of these incentives could be crucial for the management of research in universities. Finally, this thesis contributes significantly to (1) a better understanding of the research capabilities of academics and, (2) offering new variables to evaluate research performance and the implementation of research incentive policies. This contextualisation of the human capital approach is also related to the analysis of the factors that condition research performance, which favours the introduction and implementation of specific measures for the management of academic staff. Moreover, its application represents a significant contribution, since traditionally the determinants of research performance have been studied from a macro perspective, whereas through this approach we propose to deepen more intrinsic and specific dimensions reseachers.

Author dc:creator

• Guerrero Alba, Félix

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Martín Alcázar, Fernando
• Sánchez Gardey, Gonzalo

• human capital
• academic research
• AMO framework
• individual scientific performance
• perception
• incentives

Statement dc:rights

• Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10498/27562

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:rodin.uca.es:10498/27562