Effects of mobilities on the research output and its multidisciplinarity of academics in Hong Kong and Macau: An exploratory study

Abstract

This article explores how the past mobilities of academics affect their current research output (and its multidisciplinarity). Five types of mobility are used simultaneously in the analysis. Field mobility and transnational educational mobility are associated with academics' educational path, whereas transnational job mobility, intra‐sectoral job mobility and inter‐sectoral job mobility refer to their career path. The analysis is based on a representative sample of academics based in Hong Kong and Macau. Results show that intra‐sectoral job mobility (up to a threshold) and transnational job mobility positively affect research output and its multidisciplinarity, whereas inter‐sectoral job mobility, field mobility and transnational educational mobility exert slight or no effect. Nested analyses of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and non‐STEM academics as well as experienced and junior academics offer further insight into the roles of these mobilities. Impacts of mobile experience were stronger among junior than senior academics, and in STEM fields than non‐STEM fields. The article discusses these findings along with the significance of considering mobilities rather than mobility when analysing academic trajectories and the determinants of academic research production.

Mobility and Research Performance of Academics in City-Based Higher Education Systems

“…Intersectoral mobility only assumes a negative effect on publications when the number of non-academic jobs exceeds a threshold, but a one-time move to work in the government, a firm or another organisation outside academia does not seem to have an impact compared with academics who have never worked in a non-academic job. These two results are aligned with the previous findings in the literature (e.g., Horta et al, 2018). Intrasectoral mobility does not seem to play a role in publication quality, but intersectoral mobility assumes a negative effect up to a determined number of jobs outside academia, after which there is a reverse trend associated with having held several of these jobs.…”

“…Some studies have suggested that academics who are never mobile and remain working at the university that conferred their PhD tend to produce fewer publications than those who move between universities (e.g., Horta, 2013). Other studies have reported similar results but found that the relationship between job mobility and research outputs and outcomes is not linear and that as the number of jobs increases, the gains from mobility in relation to research output and outcome indicators decrease (Horta et al, 2018). However, some studies, such as that by Alipova and Lovakov (2017), have found no differences in research output and outcomes between academics that have never moved between universities and those that have.…”

“…This growing relevance of academic mobility is also contextualised by knowledge production, dissemination and application processes, assuming that overlapping global, national and local characteristics and motivators mirror the growing complexity of science and technological development, including the associated incentives (Holm-Nielsen, 2018). Two main types of mobility have been highlighted in analyses of the mobility of academics: transnational mobility, which presupposes migration and cross-border elements (Teichler, 2015), and job mobility, which can involve changes of job within the same sector of activity (in this case, the higher education sector) and job changes between higher education institutions (mostly universities) and the business, government or not-for-profit (e.g., NGO) sectors (Horta et al, 2018).…”

“…The exploratory variables for job changes are Academic Job Count (intra-sectoral mobility) and Non-academic Job Count (inter-sectoral mobility). Two quadratic terms referring to each of these explanatory variables are included because of the previous finding of non-linearity in the relation between job changes and research outputs (Horta et al, 2018). The exploratory variables concerning transnational mobility are Transnational Educational Change and Transnational Job Changes.…”

International mobility activities predict research output: A longitudinal study

“…Based on this theory, researchers mobilize internationally to achieve promotion and development. Horta et al (2018) explored different types of mobility and confirmed that transnational job mobility exerted positive effects on research output. Compared to researchers with no international mobility experience, those with such experience show a significantly higher level of international cooperation, a significantly higher IF, an average citation rate, and a significantly lower ratio of uncited articles (Kato & Ando, 2013).…”