The Cost of Producing Higher Education: An Exploration of Theory, Evidence, and Institutional Policy

Abstract

The process by which academic reward systems shape behavior has been studied in many ways, including, but not limited to, how they serve as cultural socialization, motivation, psychological contract, marketplace, and system. Just as there is ambiguity for individuals living inside academic reward systems as to what really matters and counts, there is significant complexity in trying to study them from the outside. This chapter explores the inner workings of reward systems including their major elements in the United States for full-time faculty in 4-year institutions. The author considers how they work as inputs, processes, and outcomes and the dominant theoretical frameworks and methods that have been used to study them. Recent trends and reforms in academic reward systems from 1990 to 2010 are presented alongside the problems and opportunities they raise for key stakeholders. The last section considers what we have learned over the last 20 years of studying academic reward systems that is useful for reform and suggests new areas for research.