Các yếu tố ảnh hưởng đến năng suất nghiên cứu của giảng viên tại Đại học Định hướng Nghiên cứu Việt Nam

Factors Influencing the Research Productivity of Academics at the Research-Oriented University in Vietnam by Mr Quy Huu NGUYEN B.Ed School of Education and Professional Studies Arts, Education, and Law Group Griffith University Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Education October 2015 Running head: INFLUENCES ON ACADEMICS’ RESEARCH PRODUCTIVITY i ABSTRACT This study investigated the factors that influence the research productivity of academics at one of the leading universities of Vietnam, which is anonymously named the Research-Oriented University (ROU). Exploring the impacts of three sets of possible influences – research environment, research motivation, and research behaviours – the study predicted that the interconnected relationships among environmental factors (individual academics and the institution), research motivational factors, and research behavioural factors ultimately influenced the research productivity of ROU’s academics. The study focused on two categories of research productivity outputs: 1) the total number of publishing outputs and 2) the total number of international refereed journal articles from 2009 to 2013. Since the emergence of the research university has become a new trend in global higher education (Altbach, Reisberg, & Rumbley, 2010), many countries have built research universities to serve their economic or social development, as well as to achieve higher status in the competitive environment of global higher education.

In Vietnam, some key universities of Vietnam, including ROU, have been selected by the Vietnamese government to be developed into internationally competitive research universities by 2020. As a result, research has become an important and compulsory mission of ROU’s academics. Although ROU has encouraged its staff, and even applied a financially punitive policy measure to try to coerce them into actively engaging in research and to produce publishing outputs, their research productivity is still significantly low, compared with that of other key universities. Changing academics’ working practices, attitudes and behaviours from teaching-intensive to teaching-and-research focused, causes challenges not only ROU’s academics, but also the educational leaders of this university.

It is the responsibility of the university to implement appropriate teaching and research policies which can promote the commitment of academics to the research goals of the university and that consequently produce high research productivity. For that reason, an investigation into factors that motivate academics to undertake research, or that hinder them from engaging in research productively, is necessary. This study applied a mixed-method design that includes interviews with academic staff (N = 19) as well as a survey, but relies predominantly on the quantitative data (N = 526) to generate its results and conclusions. Three research questions were explored as follows: INFLUENCES ON ACADEMICS’ RESEARCH PRODUCTIVITY ii  What is the impact of research environment on research motivation? The qualitative data indicated that the following factors reduced the research motivation of academics: a heavy teaching load; a low salary; insufficient professional meetings; and shortages of scholarly resources, research funding, and research infrastructure.

Furthermore, respondents were not satisfied with the university’s research policy and perceived the impossibility of a positive research climate in departments. These qualitative results were broadly confirmed by quantitative data.  What is the impact of research motivation on research behaviour? The qualitative data revealed that if academics were paid a better salary, were involved in a research group, and involved in postgraduate supervision, they would have a high level of research motivation which ultimately would influence their research behaviours. The quantitative results found that there were relationships between four types of research motivation and three research behavioural factors: 1) the factor of research collaboration was influenced by intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and normative motivation; 2) the factor of postgraduate supervision was influenced by extrinsic motivation and normative motivation; and 3) the factor of weekly research hours, was influenced by normative motivation.

 What is the impact of research behaviours on research productivity? The quantitative analyses found the associations between research behaviours and two categories of publishing outputs: 1) the total number of publishing outputs was positively associated with research collaboration, postgraduate supervision, and weekly research hours and 2) the total number of international refereed journal articles was associated with postgraduate supervision and weekly research hours. This study makes a timely contribution to our understanding of research productivity in the Vietnamese Higher Education sector which can be used by educational leaders of Vietnamese universities. The information may help the leaders of the Research-Oriented University to redesign their teaching and research policies as well as to provide sufficient support for academics in terms of resources and professional development. If such matters are well and timely improved, the research productivity of ROU’s academics will be significantly increased.

INFLUENCES ON ACADEMICS’ RESEARCH PRODUCTIVITY iii STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself. INFLUENCES ON ACADEMICS’ RESEARCH PRODUCTIVITY iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT. i STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY.

iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. xi LIST OF TABLES. xiii LIST OF FIGURES. xvii Chapter 1 Introduction .1 Rationale for the Study.2 Background to the Study .3 Aim and Objectives of the Study.4 Research Question of the Study.5 Research Design and Methodology of the Study .6 Significance of the Study .7 Limitations of the Study .8 Defining the Terminology Used in this Study .9 Organisation of the Thesis.

13 Chapter 2 Contexts of the Vietnamese Higher Education and the Research-Oriented University .2 The Context of the Vietnamese Higher Education.1 Social, Political, and Economic Contexts .2 Research Productivity of Academics in Vietnam .3 Responsibilities of Academics in Vietnam .3 The Context of the Research-Oriented University .2 Number of Academics and Educational Qualification .3 Research Productivity of ROU’s Academics. 27 Chapter 3 Literature Review .2 The Importance of Research Universities in Global Higher Education.1 The Emergence of Research Universities and Their Roles. 29 INFLUENCES ON ACADEMICS’ RESEARCH PRODUCTIVITY v 3.2 The Responsibilities of Academics at Research Universities .3 The Positive Relationship between Teaching and Research .3 The Importance of Research Productivity and Its Measurement .1 Indicators of Research Productivity .2 Measurement of Research Productivity .4 Reviews of Studies Related to Research Productivity of Academics .1 Studies Investigated Impacts of Motivational Factors .2 Studies Investigated Impacts of Individual and Institutional Factors .5 Considerations of Theories to Form a Conceptual Framework for This Study .1 Theory of Job Satisfaction .1 Conceptualisation of Job Satisfaction .2 Impacts of Job Satisfaction on Research Productivity of Academics .2 Theory of Organisational Commitment .1 Conceptualisation of Organisational Commitment .2 Types of Organisational Commitment .3 Theory of Motivation .1 Conceptualisation of Motivation .2 Impacts of Motivation on Research Productivity of Academics .6 The Conceptual Framework of This Study.1 The Conceptual Framework .2 Predictor Variables Applied in the Conceptual Framework .5 Research Self-efficacy .7 Time Allocation for Research. 63 INFLUENCES ON ACADEMICS’ RESEARCH PRODUCTIVITY vi 3.9 Stimulative Leadership of Departmental Leaders.

68 Chapter 4 Research Methodology.3 Stage One: Qualitative Research .1 Method of Data Collection .4 Procedure for Data Collection .4 Stage Two: Quantitative Research .1 Method of Data Collection .1 Structure of the Questionnaire .2 Operationalisation of the Concepts in the Questionnaire .4 Procedure for Data Collection. 91 INFLUENCES ON ACADEMICS’ RESEARCH PRODUCTIVITY vii 4.5 Limitations of the Study. 93 Chapter 5 Data Presentation and Discussions of Factors Influencing Research Motivation of Academics .2 Data Presentation and Discussions of Qualitative Analysis .2 Discussions of Qualitative Analysis .3 Data Presentation and Discussions of Quantitative Analyses .3 Exploratory Factor Analysis .1 Examination of Suitability of Data and Criteria for Principal Axis Factoring .2 Results of Principal Axis Factoring Analysis .3 Reliability of Two Scales .1 Checking the Assumptions .2 Hierarchical Multiple Regression Results .2 Discussions of Quantitative Analyses .1 Research Hypothesis One .2 Research Hypothesis Two .3 Research Hypothesis Three. 133 INFLUENCES ON ACADEMICS’ RESEARCH PRODUCTIVITY viii Chapter 6 Data Presentation and Discussions of Factors Influencing the Research Behaviours of Academics .2 Data Presentation and Discussions of Qualitative Analysis .2 Discussions of Qualitative Results .3 Data Presentation and Discussions of Quantitative Analyses .1 Exploratory Factor Analysis .1 Research Behaviour Scale .2 Reliability of the Research Behaviour Scale .1 Research Hypothesis One .2 Research Hypothesis Two .3 Research Hypothesis Three.

165 Chapter 7 Data Presentation and Discussions of Factors Influencing the Research Productivity of Academics .1 Research Hypothesis One .2 Research Hypothesis Two. 177 INFLUENCES ON ACADEMICS’ RESEARCH PRODUCTIVITY ix 7. 182 Chapter 8 Conclusions and Implications .1 Individual and Institutional Factors That Impact the Research Motivation of ROU’s Academics (RQ1) .2 Research Motivational Factors That Impact the Research Behaviours of ROU’s Academics (RQ2) .3 Research Behavioural Factors That Impact the Publishing Outputs of ROU’s Academics (RQ3) .4 Summary of All Findings of Three Research Questions .1 Implications for Policy .1 Increasing Salary for Academics .2 Providing a Larger Research Budget to the Research-Oriented Universities .3 Appointing Fulltime Academic Researchers .1 Recruiting Advanced Academics .2 Emphasising the Research Profile of New Academics .3 Conducting Annual Academic Performance Review .4 Diversifying Appointments of Academics .5 Providing More Scholarly Resources. 206 INFLUENCES ON ACADEMICS’ RESEARCH PRODUCTIVITY x 8.6 Restructuring the Number of Undergraduate and Postgraduate Students .7 Offering monetary incentives for highly qualified research publications .8 Stopping the Financially Punitive Policy .2 Implications for Practice .1 Providing Professional Development .2 Establishing Partnership with International Universities .3 Providing Early Career Academic Development Programs .4 Providing More Opportunities for Academics to Study a Doctoral Degree .5 Prioritising More Support for Female and/or Old Academics .4 Limitations of the Study .5 Suggestions for Further Study.

265 INFLUENCES ON ACADEMICS’ RESEARCH PRODUCTIVITY xi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincerest thanks to the following family members, organisations, and academics who have offered me an opportunity to study overseas:  Mr Nguyễn Hữu Duyên - my father and Mrs Tôn Nữ Ngọc Bảo - my mother for offering me unconditional support and love since I was born until today.  Loving kindness goes to my late paternal and maternal grandparents who were looking for my success but they could not wait until this date.  Ministry of Education and Training, Vietnam and Griffith University, Australia for providing me with a scholarship to study in Australia.  Professor Martin Mills (UQ) and Professor Neil Cranston (Uni.) for writing the references for me when I applied for this scholarship.

In order to progress this thesis journey, my sincerest gratitude belongs to the following persons for their invaluable mentorship, support, and encouragement. Without this, I would not have been able to accomplish this thesis.  Associate Professor Christopher Klopper, my principal supervisor, for his wonderful supervision. He always demonstrated academic professionalism and enthusiasm by giving thoughtful guidance and tireless proofreading of draft chapters, and provided timely feedback with profound insights.

 Dr Calvin Smith, my first associate supervisor, for his enthusiastic, intensive, and immediate guidance from the beginning of this journey to creating the foundation of the thesis. The greatest support from Dr Smith was with the quantitative analysis, an area in which I was so-ill prepared in the beginning.  Dr Steve Drew, my second associate supervisor and Professor Kerri-Lee Krause, my ex-associate supervisor for initial support on the journey.  Professor Bùi Văn Ga, the Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Education and Training, Vietnam and Professor Trần Văn Nam, the President of the University of Danang, Vietnam for offering me continual encouragement.

 Professor Alf Lizzio, Professor Catherine Beavis, Professor Greer Johnson, Associate Professor Leonie Rowan, Associate Professor Peter Grootenboor, Associate Professor Raymond Hibbins, Associate Professor INFLUENCES ON ACADEMICS’ RESEARCH PRODUCTIVITY xii Sarojni Choy, Ms Caroline Birch, and Associate Professor Duncan Nulty for their professional advice.  Executive and staff members in the Griffith Graduate Research School; Griffith Institute for Higher Education; Arts, Education and Law Group, School of Education and Professional Studies, especially Ms Diane Burns; Griffith Institute for Education Research; and Griffith library for their enthusiasm and timely assistance.