What drives research in higher education? An Indian context

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper to explore the factors that act as motivators or demotivators from the perspective of academics in higher educational institutes, especially in the management context.

Design/methodology/approach

The qualitative research methods were employed in this study, which involved in-depth interviews via semi-structured interviews for the collection of data because of little or none of it has been conducted. Qualitative study consisted a naturalistic approach that provided the opportunity to study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of and to understand phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them.

Findings

The study highlighted the motivational and demotivational elements associated with participation in research activity. The following research study found that mostly the motivating factors are centered upon individual, e.g., career growth, whereas the demotivating factors are majorly extrinsic, e.g., mandate policy and framework.

Research limitations/implications

The generalization of this study’s results to circumstances in other parts of the country may not be possible because the target population comprised of the academics working in the institutes of NCR region of India. Further in order to improve the possibility of generalizing the study can be conducted to find differences in relation to the organizations for eg., private and public institutes in higher education.

Originality/value

The study will help the regulatory authorities and employers in higher education to revisit their policy frameworks and come out with the strategies to uplift the motivation level of the teachers to conduct academic research in the fields of their interests. The study will also help to gain deeper insights into the factors that motivate and demotivate teachers to get involved in academic research.

Citation

Saini, D. and Chaudhary, N.S. (2020), "What drives research in higher education? An Indian context", Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 573-584. https://doi.org/10.1108/JARHE-07-2018-0157