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

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, w...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Higher education quarterly 2018-07, Vol.72 (3), p.250-265
Main Authors: Horta, Hugo, Jung, Jisun, Santos, João M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Beginning Teachers
College Faculty
Economic models
Educational Mobility
Experienced Teachers
Faculty Mobility
Foreign Countries
Interdisciplinary Approach
Mathematics
Mobile communication systems
Occupational Mobility
Production
STEM Education
Transnationalism
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary: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.
ISSN:0951-5224
1468-2273
DOI:10.1111/hequ.12161