IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/rseval/v32y2023i3p545-556..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do funding modes matter? A multilevel analysis of funding allocation mechanisms on university research performance

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas Zacharewicz
  • Noemi Pulido Pavón
  • Luis Antonio
  • Benedetto Lepori

Abstract

Over the last decades, most EU countries have profoundly reshaped their public research funding systems by shifting from traditional institutional block-funding towards more project-based mechanisms. The main rationale underlying this evolution builds on the assumption that project funding would foster research performance through the introduction of competitive allocation mechanisms. In contrast with the general increase of project funding, evidence is mixed regarding a positive effect of competitive funding mechanisms on research performance, as some studies find a positive impact, other a negative one or no impact. Differences also appear across studies regarding research actors, funding streams, and research outputs considered. This article integrates these different approaches through a multilevel design gathering funding inputs for 10 countries and 148 universities between 2011 and 2019 and assesses their impact on the quantity and quality of publications. Results highlight no impact of national and university-level competitive funding mechanisms on universities highly cited publications and no clear effect on the quantity of publications.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Zacharewicz & Noemi Pulido Pavón & Luis Antonio & Benedetto Lepori, 2023. "Do funding modes matter? A multilevel analysis of funding allocation mechanisms on university research performance," Research Evaluation, Oxford University Press, vol. 32(3), pages 545-556.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:rseval:v:32:y:2023:i:3:p:545-556.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/reseval/rvad023
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Aldo Geuna, 2001. "The Changing Rationale for European University Research Funding: Are There Negative Unintended Consequences?," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(3), pages 607-632, September.
    2. Philippe Aghion & Mathias Dewatripont & Caroline Hoxby & Andreu Mas-Colell & André Sapir, 2010. "The governance and performance of universities: evidence from Europe and the US [Distance to frontier, selection, and economic growth]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 25(61), pages 7-59.
    3. Ayoubi, Charles & Pezzoni, Michele & Visentin, Fabiana, 2019. "The important thing is not to win, it is to take part: What if scientists benefit from participating in research grant competitions?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 84-97.
    4. Marlo M Vernon & E Andrew Balas & Shaher Momani, 2018. "Are university rankings useful to improve research? A systematic review," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(3), pages 1-15, March.
    5. Philippe Aghion & Mathias Dewatripont & Caroline Hoxby & Andreu Mas-Colell & André Sapir, . "Higher aspirations- an agenda for reforming European universities," Blueprints, Bruegel, number 1, June.
    6. Philippe Aghion & Mathias Dewatripont & Caroline Hoxby & Andreu Mas-Colell & André Sapir, 2007. "Why Reform Europe's Universities?," Policy Briefs 34, Bruegel.
    7. Pedro Teixeira & Ricardo Biscaia & Vera Rocha, 2022. "Competition for Funding or Funding for Competition? Analysing the Dissemination of Performance-based Funding in European Higher Education and its Institutional Effects," International Journal of Public Administration, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(2), pages 94-106, January.
    8. Peter van den Besselaar & Loet Leydesdorff, 2009. "Past performance, peer review and project selection: a case study in the social and behavioral sciences," Research Evaluation, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(4), pages 273-288, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. repec:oup:rseval:v:32:y:2024:i:3:p:545-556. is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Jürgen Janger & Anna Strauss-Kollin & David Campbell, 2013. "Academic Careers: A Cross-country Perspective. WWWforEurope Working Paper No. 37," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 46923.
    3. Georg Licht & Bettina Peters & Christian Köhler & Franz Schwiebacher, 2014. "The Potential Contribution of Innovation Systems to Socio-Ecological Transition. WWWforEurope Deliverable No. 4," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 47502.
    4. Roth, Felix, 2021. "Das Produktivitätspuzzle: Eine kritische Bewertung," Edition HWWI: Chapters, in: Straubhaar, Thomas (ed.), Neuvermessung der Datenökonomie, volume 6, pages 61-82, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI).
    5. Kellermann, Kersten & Schlag, Carsten-Henning, 2012. "Hochschulen im Zentrum der Wachstumspolitik: Von der europäischen zur liechtensteinischen Perspektive," KOFL Studien, Konjunkturforschungsstelle Liechtenstein (KOFL), Vaduz, volume 8, number 8.
    6. Daraio, Cinzia & Bonaccorsi, Andrea & Geuna, Aldo & Lepori, Benedetto & Bach, Laurent & Bogetoft, Peter & F. Cardoso, Margarida & Castro-Martinez, Elena & Crespi, Gustavo & de Lucio, Ignacio Fernandez, 2011. "The European university landscape: A micro characterization based on evidence from the Aquameth project," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 148-164, February.
    7. Maaike Verbree & Edwin Horlings & Peter Groenewegen & Inge Weijden & Peter Besselaar, 2015. "Organizational factors influencing scholarly performance: a multivariate study of biomedical research groups," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 102(1), pages 25-49, January.
    8. Benedetto, Lepori & Geuna, Aldo & Veglio, Valerio, 2017. "A Typology of European Universities. Differentiation and resource distribution," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201705, University of Turin.
    9. Lepori, Benedetto, 2011. "Coordination modes in public funding systems," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 355-367, April.
    10. Massucci, Francesco Alessandro & Docampo, Domingo, 2019. "Measuring the academic reputation through citation networks via PageRank," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 185-201.
    11. Quentin David, 2010. "Comparaison Internationale des Modes d’Organisation et de Financement de l’Enseignement Supérieur," DEM Discussion Paper Series 10-24, Department of Economics at the University of Luxembourg.
    12. World Bank, 2012. "Universities Through the Looking Glass : Benchmarking University Governance to Enable Higher Education Modernization in MENA," World Bank Publications - Reports 12535, The World Bank Group.
    13. Jürgen Janger, 2019. "Projektbasierte Grundlagenforschungsförderung im internationalen Vergleich. Implikationen für eine Exzellenzinitiative in Österreich," WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), WIFO, vol. 92(3), pages 159-172, March.
    14. Felix Roth, 2022. "The Productivity Puzzle: A Critical Assessment and an Outlook on the COVID-19 Crisis," Contributions to Economics, in: Intangible Capital and Growth, chapter 0, pages 1-16, Springer.
    15. Sandström, Ulf & Van den Besselaar, Peter, 2018. "Funding, evaluation, and the performance of national research systems," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 365-384.
    16. Benedetto Lepori & Aldo Geuna & Antonietta Mira, 2019. "Scientific output scales with resources. A comparison of US and European universities," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(10), pages 1-18, October.
    17. Philippe Aghion & Mathias Dewatripont & Caroline M. Hoxby & Andreu Mas-Colell & André Sapir, 2009. "The Governance and Performance of Research Universities: Evidence from Europe and the U.S," NBER Working Papers 14851, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Quentin Max David, 2013. "Determinants of Research Production at Top Universities," Working Papers TIMES² 2014-007, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    19. Benedetto Lepori & Aldo Geuna & Valerio Veglio, 2017. "A Typology of European Research Universities. Differentiation, Layering and Resource Distribution," SPRU Working Paper Series 2017-01, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    20. repec:cte:werepe:26093 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. David Bailey & Lisa de Propris & Jürgen Janger, 2015. "Industrial and Innovation Policy as Drivers of Change. WWWforEurope Deliverable No. 9," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 58412.
    22. Koen Jonkers & Thomas Zacharewicz, 2016. "Research Performance Based Funding Systems: a Comparative Assessment," JRC Research Reports JRC101043, Joint Research Centre.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:rseval:v:32:y:2023:i:3:p:545-556.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/rev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.