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11 – 20 of over 4000Wenzhi Zheng, Yenchun Jim Wu and Yue Lv
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between researchers’ social media (SM) behavior and their academic performance.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between researchers’ social media (SM) behavior and their academic performance.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 362 researchers was recruited from the colleges of management of 52 Chinese universities. A factor analysis of eight indices retrieved from the 362 data items was conducted. A total of 24 Chinese researchers were interviewed and given a robust test.
Findings
The results indicate that Chinese general social media (GSM) is insufficient to support academic research and it is difficult for scholars to enhance the visibility of their academic performance using GSM platforms, which can actually induce addiction. University resources, management systems, and working environment affect how scholars apply SM.
Research limitations/implications
The authors examined the researchers’ SM behavior by giving them a questionnaire and interview; however, this approach proved inadequate. The academic performance of researchers is affected by numerous factors, but the authors only considered SM behavior.
Practical implications
It is suggested that universities apply academic social media (ASM) indicators to measure researchers’ contributions so that they self-regulate their SM usage attitudes. Also, universities should also promote ASM platforms.
Originality/value
This study analyzed scholars’ GSM usage and academic performance, and the moderating effect of university level on the relationship between need for competence and relatedness and need for autonomy. This comprehensive analysis contributes to the scholarly SM usage literature.
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Yongzhan Li, Yongxin Li and Gloria Castaño
To fill the previous research gap, focusing on two constructs, i.e. perceived supervisor support (PSS) and psychological capital (PsyCap), this study aims to explore the mechanism…
Abstract
Purpose
To fill the previous research gap, focusing on two constructs, i.e. perceived supervisor support (PSS) and psychological capital (PsyCap), this study aims to explore the mechanism underlying the relationship between teaching–research conflict (TRC) and job burnout among university teachers using the lens of job demands–resources (JD-R) model.
Design/methodology/approach
First, theoretically grounded hypotheses linking teaching–research conflict, PSS and PsyCap to job burnout were formulated. Then, a cross-sectional design was used to test the theoretical model presented in this study.
Findings
The results showed that TRC was positively linked to emotional exhaustion (EE) and depersonalization (DP), but negatively linked to personal accomplishment; PSS moderated the effect of TRC on both EE and DP but did not act as a moderator in the relationship between TRC and personal accomplishment; and PsyCap moderated the effect of TRC on all the three dimensions of job burnout.
Research limitations/implications
Given that the data were collected from single-source, the study was vulnerable to the common method variance. Besides, the relative small sample size limits the representativeness of the sample. Moreover, the cross-sectional design cannot confirm causal relationship between variables. Despite these limitations, the findings of this research can potentially inform effective interventions aimed at reducing the effect of TRC on job burnout among university teachers.
Originality/value
Based on the JD-R model, PSS and PsyCap are used to explore the effect of TRC on job burnout for the first time.
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Gaoming Zhang, Yong Zhao and Jing Lei
Over the past few decades China's higher education has gone through dramatic growth and multiple rounds of reforms accompanied by a remarkable amount of financial investment, all…
Abstract
Purpose
Over the past few decades China's higher education has gone through dramatic growth and multiple rounds of reforms accompanied by a remarkable amount of financial investment, all aiming at developing world‐class universities to grow innovative talents. Yet the outcomes so far have been disappointing. This paper aims to investigate this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
By reviewing and analyzing selected educational reforms in higher education in China, this article discusses the reasons of the gap between the massive input for innovation in higher education in China and abysmal results. This paper also reports and analyzes a case that challenges central control and the gaokao system.
Findings
Central control and the gaokao, the infamous college entrance exam, are the bedrocks of China's higher education and also the culprit for China's failure to cultivate innovative talents. Unless they are fundamentally changed it is unlikely that China will have the higher education system it dreams of having.
Originality/value
This article provides an overview of China's efforts to cultivate innovative talents by strategically investing in building world‐class higher education institutions (HEIs) and analyzes the reasons behind the apparent gap between its massive input and the abysmal results achieved.
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Wei Quan, Bikun Chen and Fei Shu
The purpose of this paper is to present the landscape of the cash-per-publication reward policy in China and reveal its trend since the late 1990s.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present the landscape of the cash-per-publication reward policy in China and reveal its trend since the late 1990s.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on the analysis of 168 university documents regarding the cash-per-publication reward policy at 100 Chinese universities.
Findings
Chinese universities offer cash rewards from USD30 to USD165,000 for papers published in journals indexed by Web of Science, and the average reward amount has been increasing for the past ten years.
Originality/value
The cash-per-publication reward policy in China has never been systematically studied and investigated before except for in some case studies. This is the first paper that reveals the landscape of the cash-per-publication reward policy in China.
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Xuan Wu and Wing Kit Chan
Before the turn of the century, taking overseas students was more about a diplomatic issue dominated by the state in China, for which reason this section is relatively independent…
Abstract
Purpose
Before the turn of the century, taking overseas students was more about a diplomatic issue dominated by the state in China, for which reason this section is relatively independent within the higher education system. However, evidence from a series of new policy documents and their impacts suggests that international student mobility (ISM) has been intensively shaped by the central government in the desire to promote its national strategy, namely the belt and road initiative. ISM policy, although with a significant proportion marketized, was introduced for a clear purpose of cultural diplomacy. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Looking beyond the debate of market-driven vs state-dominated, this paper attempts to provide a thorough understanding of this changing pattern based on examination of key changes of policy statements along with official data analysis.
Findings
This paper argues that the new pattern must be understood against a context of a hierarchy of higher education institutes in contemporary China: a sector led by a small number of prestigious universities generously funded by the central government with a large number of ordinary universities underfunded and eager to generate income. Prestigious institutes enroll international students to satisfy performance indicators listed by policies like “Double First-rate”; other universities, benefiting from the reputation and momentum generated by the top ones, take self-funded students for profit.
Originality/value
By making good use of both performance indicators and market motives, the country managed to move a state-dominated ISM policy in the twentieth century into the existing state-steering marketization model and made China a major destination for overseas study.
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Chen Li and Glenn Morgan
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between institutional change and commercialization of university research in China, the largest developing country during…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between institutional change and commercialization of university research in China, the largest developing country during 1985‐2007 period.
Design/methodology/approach
The findings are based on a comparative case study of two key Chinese universities. Both unstructured and semi‐interviews are utilized for the research.
Findings
There is still a gap between goals of institutional change and performances of commercializing university research, albeit improvements have also been observed over last two decades.
Research limitations/implications
Only two universities are selected to approach the complex commercialization process, more cases are needed for further research.
Practical implications
Experience generated from this comparative study might be helpful for other developing countries to explore the appropriate paths to commercialize their research results.
Originality/value
Three modes of commercialization proposed in the paper might help for cross‐country comparison research.
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Keywords
Qiuhong Chen, Ning Geng and Kan Zhu
The purpose of this paper is to reveal the distributional characteristics and evolutional patterns in source periodicals, topics, authors, funding, and institutes of research…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to reveal the distributional characteristics and evolutional patterns in source periodicals, topics, authors, funding, and institutes of research papers in Chinese Agricultural Economics so as to understand the current situations and developmental tendency of Chinese agricultural economics research over the past decade.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the citation analysis method, this paper analyzed the distributional characteristics and evolution of source periodicals, fields, authors and topics of 2,203 highly cited journal papers from the database of China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and 189 cited journal papers from database of Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) in agricultural economics first-authored by Chinese scholars from 2006 to 2015.
Findings
First, over the past decade, agricultural economics research in China has seen a rapid development. Specially, 103 scholars and 42 institutes have played key roles in the development, and 12 Chinese periodicals and 3 international journals have been the most influential outlets. Second, the coverage of the topics in Chinese agricultural economics research is broad and has expanded over the past decade. The rural land issue has been the most popular topic, while the issues regarding rural institutional arrangements and industrialization in rural areas have been explored extensively. However, issues in other fields, such as agricultural markets and trade, rural labor, food safety, etc. have to be further studied. Third, the improvements of economic theory and quantitative analytic techniques, the supports from research funding, and an increase in the collaboration between Chinese scholars and those from other countries have made great contribution to the rapid development of Chinese agricultural economics research over the past decade.
Originality/value
This paper is an original work that identifies the most influential journal papers including highly cited journal papers from CNKI and cited journal papers from SSCI, using citation frequency and standard Essential Science Indicators method. This is a contribution relative to the methods used by previous studies, which did not account for frequency of citation of a paper. Moreover, this study is based on data from two databases, CNKI and SSCI, suggesting that the coverage of sample papers is broader compared to those of previous studies.
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Martha Prevezer, Jian Li and Pietro Panzarasa
This paper aims to draw on a number of indicators of innovation to evaluate and compare two central regions – Hubei and Hunan – with three leading regions of China – Beijing…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to draw on a number of indicators of innovation to evaluate and compare two central regions – Hubei and Hunan – with three leading regions of China – Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper focuses on absorptive capacity at the level of domestic regions of China, using data on R&D expenditures, human resources in higher education and in high-tech industries. The paper uses social network analysis to investigate innovation networks based on patents from the SIPO and USPTO.
Findings
Results indicate that, in Hubei and Hunan, R&D expenditures do not translate into as many innovative outputs as in the coastal and Southern regions. Moreover, high-tech industries contribute towards a relatively low proportion of the regional outputs of Hubei and Hunan, where especially the electronics industry is very poorly represented. Findings also suggest that Hubei and Hunan have a relatively limited access to foreign technologies embedded in ties with international partners. By contrast, the more advanced three regions tend to develop collaborative activities across national boundaries to a higher extent than across regional boundaries.
Research limitations/implications
The analysis of China's regional innovation system has implications for research on national innovation systems. Policy-makers can benefit from the comparative analysis of regions.
Originality/value
The study is primarily exploratory, and the findings contribute to the literature and ongoing discussion on data sources and methods for the analysis of regional innovation.
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Alice Y.C. Te and Gerard A. Postiglione
Studying abroad is not new for Hong Kong students, especially those from the middle class. For a variety of reasons, traversing to Mainland universities has been an unconventional…
Abstract
Purpose
Studying abroad is not new for Hong Kong students, especially those from the middle class. For a variety of reasons, traversing to Mainland universities has been an unconventional path confined mostly to students who pursued specific programs, or had family or social ties. Beginning in 2012, an admission scheme was launched for Hong Kong students applying to Mainland universities. The purpose of this paper is to review the admission scheme.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper draws on both quantitative and qualitative data sources. It includes statistics from official records of students’ application and enrollment figures, and documents obtained from multiple sources, as well as qualitative data through interviews of Hong Kong students who are studying in the Mainland universities.
Findings
The key findings are that since the implementation of the admission scheme, the number of applicants is rather stable irrespective of the changing socio-economic and political context. With the preferential treatment for Hong Kong students, low tuition fees, government financial assistance and scholarships, most students still consider studying in the Mainland a backup plan rather than a first choice. The academic performance of the students and academic/career aspirations have influenced their choice and decisions.
Originality/value
This paper contributes through providing both primary and secondary data to help understand the level of acceptance on the scheme since its implementation. It also reveals the perceptions of the students who have made their choice to study cross the border. In facing the emergent economic, socio-cultural and political challenges, some policies recommendations are proposed to boost the acceptance of the scheme. Moreover, it fills the research gap on student mobility from Hong Kong to Mainland China in the corpus of literature.
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Jie Xia, Mingqiong Mike Zhang, Jiuhua Cherrie Zhu, Di Fan and Ramanie Samaratunge
The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of human resource management (HRM) reforms on job-related well-being of academics in Chinese universities. It also tests the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of human resource management (HRM) reforms on job-related well-being of academics in Chinese universities. It also tests the mediating effect of work intensification (WI) and affective commitment (AC), and the moderating effect of perceived organizational justice (OJ) on the HRM‒well-being relationship to understand the influence mechanisms and boundary conditions.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire survey was conducted in 25 Chinese universities, obtaining 638 usable questionnaires. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used as the analytical technique to examine the model fit and test hypotheses.
Findings
The findings reveal that the relationship of HRM and well-being is neither direct nor unconditional, and a win‒win scenario for both management and employee well-being is possible when organizations pursue HRM innovations.
Research limitations/implications
The limitations of this study are that data were collected at once and at a defined time, with no time lag being involved. In addition, all variables were self-reported.
Practical implications
Commitment-oriented HRM practices can create a win‒win scenario; when control-oriented HRM practices are necessary, managers should ensure OJ to offset their negative influence on employees.
Originality/value
This study is among the first to examine the impact of HRM on employee well-being in the context of Chinese higher education, contributing to the limited studies on HRM in Chinese public sector and the on-going debate on the nature of HRM in China.
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