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Vertical, horizontal, and self control in academia: Survey evidence on their diverging effects on perceived researcher autonomy and identity
Örebro University, Örebro University School of Business. (CEROC)ORCID iD: 0000-0003-3466-5273
Örebro University, Örebro University School of Business. (CEROC)ORCID iD: 0000-0003-3676-5155
2022 (English)In: The British Accounting Review, ISSN 0890-8389, E-ISSN 1095-8347, Vol. 54, no 5, article id 101055Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Foucault-oriented research has since long argued that the proliferation of performance measurement systems (PMSs) within academia threatens perceived researcher autonomy and identity through normalization and stigmatization of deviants. The theoretical model developed in this study nuances these claims by suggesting that effects of PMSs will differ depending on whether they are enacted as important for superiors (vertical control), colleagues (horizontal control), the researchers themselves (self  control), and  how  they  are  constructed by  these very  systems. Overall, the structural equation modelling analyses conducted on questionnaire data from some 700 Swedish researchers strongly confirm the model developed. Specifically, they show that PMSs enacted as a vertical form of control indeed threatens perceived autonomy and identity, and that horizontal control in the form of publish and peer pressure among colleagues works as a mediating mechanism which strengthens these effects. However, our analyses also show that when PMSs are enacted as important means of self control, this in fact increases perceptions of autonomy and reduces feelings of identity threat. We also find that the extent to which these systems construct researchers as high-performing is an important antecedent explaining how come they can be enacted in so different ways, and the effects thereof.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier, 2022. Vol. 54, no 5, article id 101055
Keywords [en]
Performance evaluation in academia, Vertical control, Horizontal control, Self control, Publish or perish peer pressure, Researcher autonomy, Researcher identity
National Category
Business Administration
Research subject
Business Studies
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-95100DOI: 10.1016/j.bar.2021.101055ISI: 000937990200005Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85117089980OAI: oai:DiVA.org:oru-95100DiVA, id: diva2:1604440
Funder
The Jan Wallander and Tom Hedelius Foundation, P20-0036
Note

Funding agency:

Örebro University

Available from: 2021-10-20 Created: 2021-10-20 Last updated: 2023-03-16Bibliographically approved

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Gerdin, JonasEnglund, Hans

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