Building human resources management capacity for university research: The case at four leading Vietnamese universities

Abstract

At research-intensive universities, building human resources management (HRM) capacity has become a key approach to enhancing a university's research performance. However, despite aspiring to become a research-intensive university, many teaching-intensive universities in developing countries may not have created effective research-promoted HRM policies. This study investigates the extent to which four leading universities in Vietnam have motivated their academics to improve research performance. By analysing policy documents and 55 semi-structured interviews with university leaders, managers, and academics, the study found that compared to the "ideal" research-enhanced HRM policies employed by research-intensive universities, the four case-study Vietnamese universities have shown their recognition of academic research; however, their HRM policies are not powerful enough to encourage academics to do research to the best of their potential. In realizing their vision of becoming research-oriented universities, the four Vietnamese universities should employ a long-term HRM capacity-building strategy by providing stronger remuneration packages for academics, applying explicit indicators in assessing lecturers' research performance, and building a comprehensive staff development agenda for research team building. However, for the four universities to implement these recommendations, changes must also be made at the system level. The Vietnamese government must allocate more research funding and confer a higher level of autonomy to universities so that they can implement their desired HRM policies to accelerate institutional research capacity and performance.

Effects of institutional policies and characteristics on research productivity at Vietnam science and technology universities

“…This implied that human resource development policies such as attracting talented and active faculty were crucial to develop faculty research activities and indirectly increase university research productivity. This result was supported by previous studies in which university human resource development had a positive impact on research activities at both individual and institutional level ( Carayol and Matt, 2006 ; Nguyen, 2016 ).…”

Commitment, Work Engagement, and Research Performance of Lecturers, in Indonesia Private Universities

“…Fitzmaurice (2013) states that the basis actions of a lecturer who is active in research, namely value, virtue, individual trust, joy, satisfaction in conducting research. Nguyen (2015) suggested HR management capacity as the main approach to improve university research performance. A combination of didactic skills, professional practice, and research competence (Griffioen, 2018).…”

Exploring neural networks in the analysis of variables that affect the employee turnover in the organization

“…Research related to human resources management (HRM) is varied and its applications are carried out in five continents [1][2][3][4] and by the most diverse sectors. [5][6][7][8][9][10] In this field of knowledge the research lines are diverse, from very general topics such as organizational behavior to more specific ones such as leadership, group work, culture, values or the commitment, and communication. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] Within this wide spectrum of research, several focus on the analysis of the effects of HRM on the results of the organization, mainly in relation to staff turnover, commitment, quality, and the results.…”