Stupnisky Robert H, Larivière Vincent, Hall Nathan C, Omojiba Oluwamakinde
213 Centennial Drive Stop 7189, Grand Forks, ND 58202 USA College of Education and Human Development, University of North Dakota.
Montreal, QC Canada School of Library and Information Science, University of Montreal.
Res High Educ. 2023;64(4):598-621. doi: 10.1007/s11162-022-09718-3. Epub 2022 Oct 3.
How are university faculty members in STEM disciplines motivated to conduct research, and how does motivation predict their success? The current study assessed how multiple types of self-determined motivation predict research productivity in a sample of 651 faculty from 10 US institutions. Using structural equation modeling, the basic psychological needs of autonomy and competence predicted autonomous motivation (enjoyment, value) that, in turn, was the strongest predictor of self-reported research productivity. Using negative binomial regression, autonomous motivation was the strongest predictor of faculty publications and citations, with a one-standard deviation increase in autonomous motivation (approximately a half response option on a 1-5 Likert scale) corresponding to an 11.63% increase in publications and a 22.57% increase in citations over a three-year period. Occupational and social-environmental background variables (e.g., research percentage on contract, career age, balance, collegiality), as well as controlled motivation (guilt, rewards), had comparatively limited predictive effects. These results are of relevance to higher education institutions aiming to support scholarly productivity in STEM faculty in identifying specific beneficial and detrimental aspects of faculty motivation that contribute to measurable gains in research activity.
理工科大学教师是如何被激励去开展研究的，以及这种动机如何预测他们的成功？当前的研究评估了多种类型的自我决定动机如何在来自美国10所机构的651名教师样本中预测研究生产力。使用结构方程模型，自主性和能力这两种基本心理需求预测了自主动机（享受、价值），而自主动机反过来又是自我报告的研究生产力的最强预测因素。使用负二项回归，自主动机是教师发表论文和被引用次数的最强预测因素，自主动机增加一个标准差（在1-5李克特量表上大约增加半个回答选项）对应于三年内发表论文数量增加11.63%以及被引用次数增加22.57%。职业和社会环境背景变量（例如，合同规定的研究百分比、职业年龄、平衡、同事关系）以及受控动机（内疚、奖励）的预测作用相对有限。这些结果对于旨在支持理工科教师学术生产力的高等教育机构识别教师动机中有助于在研究活动中取得可衡量成果的具体有利和不利方面具有参考价值。
