To What Degree Does the Desire for Promotion Motivate Faculty to Perform Research? Testing the Expectancy Theory

Based on the rationale of expectancy theory, this article examines to what degree the desire for promotion motivates faculty to do research. Using Taiwanese faculty survey data, it is found that faculty members who show higher motivation for promotion display better research performance than their colleagues who show lower motivation for promotion. This article also indicates that different kinds of rewards have different motivating effects on various types of faculty research performance. After controlling for the effects of demographic, educational, and institutional variables, the results of logistic regressions show that faculty who think promotion and the satisfaction of curiosity are important tend to publish articles; faculty who want to demonstrate their mastery of their disciplines tend to publish books; and faculty who care about personal income are more likely to seek and receive the National Science Council Research Outcome Grant.

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