‘Homo Metricus’: The New Academic Worker. How Quantitative Research Evaluation Practices Reshape the Intellectual Capital Needed to Succeed in Contemporary Universities?

Abstract

This conceptual paper explores the impact of quantitative research evaluation systems, on the intellectual capital (IC) of modern universities. By integrating the theory of IC and research evaluation scholarship, we shed light on how quantitative research evaluations might gradually shift the values of universities from traditional values centred around knowledge generation to a predominant emphasis on metric generation, metrics that are treated as tradable or exchangeable assets, like commodities in the marketplace. We argue that this shift in values has serious implications, as it gives rise to new academic workers “Homo metricus”, whose IC, must be oriented not towards robust knowledge production, but rather towards achieving metrics dictated by various aspects of evaluation systems. This paper advances our understanding of how research evaluation practices might reshape the intellectual landscape of universities and suggests the processes by which universities are evolving from knowledge hubs into entities that increasingly resemble business organizations. Moreover, our theoretical elaboration contributes to the theory of IC by emphasizing the often-overlooked role of organizational values. We highlight that IC does not exist in isolation from values that define the purposes for which IC is mobilized.