Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Climbing the ladder of institutional prestige is often promoted by leaders and policymakers in higher education, but there may be trade-offs associated with striving for status. This study examines the impact of Texas’s National Research University Fund (NRUF), which uses financial incentives to support institutions’ pursuit of prestige, on the salaries and employment of faculty. For full professors, the NRUF had a positive effect on the salaries of both men and women, but the policy also contributed to widening the gender gap in salary. In regard to employment, the NRUF had a negative impact on the share of women among full professors. The findings suggest that organizational pursuit of prestige may have unintended consequences for faculty gender equity.

Keywords

faculty financial incentive gender prestige state policy

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Angrist

J. D.

Pischke

J. S.

(2009). Mostly harmless econometrics: An empiricist’s companion. Princeton University Press.

Antecol

Bedard

Stearns

(2018). Equal but inequitable: Who benefits from gender-neutral tenure clock stopping policies? American Economic Review, 108(9), 2420–2441. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20160613

Barbezat

D. A.

Hughes

J. W.

(2005). Salary structure effects and the gender pay gap in academia. Research in Higher Education, 46(6), 621–640. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-004-4137-1

Blair-Loy

Cech

E. A.

(2022). Misconceiving merit: Paradoxes of excellence and devotion in academic science and engineering. University of Chicago Press.

Bradbury

Kellough

J. E.

(2011). Representative bureaucracy: Assessing the evidence on active representation. American Review of Public Administration, 41(2), 157–167. https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074010367823

Branch

(2019, February 20). Texas boosted 6 more universities to national research status and we cannot slow down now. Dallas Morning News.

Card

DelaVigna

Funk

Iriberri

(2021). Gender differences in peer recognition by economists (NBER Working Paper No. 38942). National Bureau of Economic Research.

Carlton

(2021, August 19). Maverick milestone: UTA achieves prestigious Texas Tier One designation. UT Arlington News Center.

Carnes

Bartels

C. M.

Kaatz

Kolehmainen

(2015). Why is John more likely to become department chair than Jennifer? Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Association, 126, 197–214.

10.

Casad

B. J.

Franks

J. E.

Garasky

C. E.

Kittleman

M. M.

Roesler

A. C.

Hall

D. Y.

Petzel

Z. W.

(2021). Gender inequality in academia: Problems and solutions for women faculty in STEM. Journal of Neuroscience Research, 99(1), 13–23. https://doi.org/10.1002/jnr.24631

11.

Cheng

S. D.

(2020). Careers versus children: How childcare affects the academic tenure-track gender gap [Working paper].

12.

Coate

Howson

C. K.

(2016). Indicators of esteem: Gender and prestige in academic work. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 37(4), 567–585. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2014.955082

13.

Cohen

P. N.

Huffman

M. L.

(2007). Working for the woman? Managers and the gender wage gap. American Sociological Review, 72(5), 681–704.

14.

Diep

(2020, September 14). The rules of the game. The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb039904

15.

Dominguez-Villegas

Smith-Doerr

Renski

Sekarasih

(2020). Labor unions and equal pay for faculty: A longitudinal study of gender pay gaps in a unionized institutional context. Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy, 11(2).

16.

Dupas

Modestino

A. S.

Niederle

Wolfers

Collective

T. S. D.

(2021). Gender and the dynamics of economics seminars (NBER Working Paper No. 28494, p. 61). National Bureau of Economic Research.

17.

Ehrenberg

R. G.

Jakubson

G. H.

Martin

M. L.

Main

J. B.

Eisenberg

(2012). Diversifying the faculty across gender lines: Do trustees and administrators matter? Economics of Education Review, 31(1), 9–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2011.10.003

18.

Ehrenberg

R. G.

Zhang

Levin

J. M.

(2006). Crafting a class: The trade-off between merit scholarships and enrolling lower-income students. Review of Higher Education, 29(2), 195–211. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2005.0082

19.

Fish

(2022, May 19). UTSA achieves National Research Fund eligibility, joining Texas’ elite research institutions. UTSA Today. https://www.utsa.edu/today/2022/05/story/utsa-achieves-nruf-eligibility.html

20.

Y. C.

Baker

D. P.

Zhang

(2020). Engineering a world class university? The impact of Taiwan’s World Class University project on scientific productivity. Higher Education Policy, 33(3), 555–570. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41307-018-0110-z

21.

Gardner

S. K.

(2013). Women faculty departures from a striving institution: Between a rock and a hard place. Review of Higher Education, 36(3), 349–370. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2013.0025

22.

Gerber

(2009). No matter how you spell it, TRIP and NRFU bring UH closer to tier one. University of Houston Magazine.

23.

Gibbons

M. T.

(2021). Universities report 5.7% growth in R&D spending in FY 2019, reaching $84 billion (InfoBrief). National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics.

24.

Goldin

(2014). A grand gender convergence: Its last chapter. American Economic Review, 104(4), 1091–1119. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.104.4.1091

25.

Gonzales

L. D.

Martinez

Ordu

(2014). Exploring faculty experiences in a striving university through the lens of academic capitalism. Studies in Higher Education, 39(7), 1097–1115. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2013.777401

26.

Gonzales

L. D.

Núñez

A. M.

(2014). The ranking regime and the production of knowledge: Implications for academia. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 22(31), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v22n31.2014

27.

Goodman-Bacon

(2021). Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing. Journal of Econometrics, 225(2), 254–277. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeconom.2021.03.014

28.

Hamilton

(2010, August 19). The tracks of our tiers. The Texas Tribune. https://www.texastribune.org/2010/08/19/emerging-research-universities-tier-one-status/

29.

Hearn

J. C.

Lacy

T. A.

Warshaw

J. B.

(2014). State research and development tax credits: The historical emergence of a distinctive economic policy instrument. Economic Development Quarterly, 28(2), 166–181. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891242413517135

30.

Hearn

J. C.

McLendon

M. K.

Austin Lacy

(2013). State-funded “eminent scholars” programs: University faculty recruitment as an emerging policy instrument. Journal of Higher Education, 84(5), 601–639. https://doi.org/10.1353/jhe.2013.0028

31.

HRO. (2009). Bill analysis: HB 51. https://hro.house.texas.gov/pdf/ba81R/HB0051.PDF

32.

Ortagus

J. C.

Voorhees

Rosinger

Kelchen

(2022). Disparate impacts of performance funding research incentives on research expenditures and state appropriations. AERA Open, 8(1), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584211071109

33.

Johnson

J. A.

Taylor

B. J.

(2019). Academic capitalism and the faculty salary gap. Innovative Higher Education, 44(1), 21–35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-018-9445-z

34.

Kaatz

Gutierrez

Carnes

(2014). Threats to objectivity in peer review: The case of gender. Trends in Pharmacological Sciences, 35(8), 371–373. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tips.2014.06.005

35.

Kulis

(1997). Gender segregation among college and university employees. Sociology of Education, 70(2), 151–173.

36.

Lee

Y. joo

Won

(2014). Trailblazing women in academia: Representation of women in senior faculty and the gender gap in junior faculty’s salaries in higher educational institutions. Social Science Journal, 51(3), 331–340. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soscij.2014.05.002

37.

Koedel

(2017). Representation and salary gaps by race-ethnicity and gender at selective public universities. Educational Researcher, 46(7), 343–354. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X17726535

38.

Oliveira

D. F. M.

Woodruff

T. K.

Uzzi

(2019). Women who win prizes get less money and prestige. Nature, 565(January), 287–288.

39.

Madera

J. M.

Hebl

M. R.

Martin

R. C.

(2009). Gender and letters of recommendation for academia: Agentic and communal differences. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(6), 1591–1599. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016539

40.

Maliniak

Powers

Walter

B. F.

(2013). The gender citation gap in international relations. International Organization, 67(4), 889–922. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818313000209

41.

May

A. M.

Moorhouse

E. A.

Bossard

J. A.

(2010). Representation of women faculty at public research universities: Do unions matter? Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 63(4), 699–718. https://doi.org/10.1177/001979391006300408

42.

McClure

K. R.

Titus

M. A.

(2018). Spending up the ranks? The relationship between striving for prestige and administrative expenditures at U.S. public research universities. Journal of Higher Education, 89(6), 961–987. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2018.1449079

43.

O’Meara

(2002). Uncovering the values in faculty evaluation of service as scholarship. Review of Higher Education, 26(1), 57–80. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2002.0028

44.

O’Meara

(2007). Striving for what? Exploring the pursuit of prestige. In Higher education: Handbook of theory and research (Vol. XXII, Iss. 413, pp. 121–179). Springer.

45.

O’Meara

(2010). Inside the panopticon: Studying academic reward systems. In Higher education: Handbook of theory and research (Vol. 25, pp. 425–448). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0702-3

46.

O’Meara

(2016). Whose problem is it? Gender differences in faculty thinking about campus service. Teachers College Record, 118(8), 1–38. https://doi.org/10.1177/016146811611800808

47.

O’Meara

Bloomgarden

(2011). The pursuit of prestige: The experience of institutional striving from a faculty perspective. Journal of the Professoriate, 4(1).

48.

O’Meara

Campbell

C. M.

(2011). Faculty sense of agency in decisions about work and family. Review of Higher Education, 34(3), 447–476. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2011.0000

49.

O’Meara

K. A.

Kuvaeva

Nyunt

Waugaman

Jackson

(2017). Asked more often: Gender differences in faculty workload in research universities and the work interactions that shape them. American Educational Research Journal, 54(6), 1154–1186. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831217716767

50.

Park

S. M.

(1996). Research, teaching, and service: Why shouldn’t women’s work count? Journal of Higher Education, 67(1), 46–84. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.1996.11780249

51.

Perna

L. W.

(2001a). Sex and race differences in faculty tenure and promotion. Research in Higher Education, 42(5), 541–567. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011050226672

52.

Perna

L. W.

(2001b). Sex differences in faculty salaries: A cohort analysis. Review of Higher Education, 24(3), 283–307. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2001.0006

53.

Ryan

S. A.

(2019). Theoretical starting points: The field of emerging research universities. Texas Education Review, 7(1), 76–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.26153/tsw/13

54.

Sá

Cowley

Martinez

Kachynska

Sabzalieva

(2020). Gender gaps in research productivity and recognition among elite scientists in the U.S., Canada, and South Africa. PLoS ONE, 15(10), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240903

55.

Srivastava

S. B.

Sherman

E. L.

(2015). Agents of change or cogs in the machine? Reexamining the influence of female managers on the gender wage gap. American Journal of Sociology, 120(6), 1778–1808. https://doi.org/10.1086/681960

56.

Sun

Abraham

(2021). Estimating dynamic treatment effects in event studies with heterogeneous treatment effects. Journal of Econometrics, 225(2), 175–199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeconom.2020.09.006

57.

Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). (2009). Overview: HB 51, 81st Texas Legislature.

58.

Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). (2012). National research university fund eligibility: A report to the Texas Legislature. https://static.texastribune.org/media/documents/NRUF_Report_2012.pdf

59.

Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). (2013). Accountability in higher education: Promoting excellence in Texas public universities through institutional groupings, peers, and benchmarks. http://www.txhighereddata.org/Interactive/Accountability/UnivPeerGroupsFY2013.pdf

60.

Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). (2018). National research university fund eligibility: A report to the Texas Legislature. https://reportcenter.thecb.state.tx.us/sites/docid/cache/file/88B1CEB3-97B0-4977-77709B4A8E490D47.pdf.

61.

Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). (2021). National research university fund eligibility: A report to the Texas Legislature. https://reportcenter.highered.texas.gov/reports/legislative/national-research-university-fund-eligibility-2021/.

62.

Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). (2022). National research university fund eligibility: A report to the Texas Legislature. https://reportcenter.highered.texas.gov/reports/legislative/national-research-university-fund-eligibility-2022/.

63.

The Nobel Prize. (n.d.). Nobel prize facts. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/facts/nobel-prize-facts/

64.

Thomas

N. R.

Poole

D. J.

Herbers

J. M.

(2015). Gender in science and engineering faculties: Demographic inertia revisited. PLoS ONE, 10(10), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0139767

65.

Toppo

(2018, December 19). Universe of doctoral universities expands. Inside Higher Ed.

66.

Toutkoushian

R. K.

(1999). The status of academic women in the 1990s: No longer outsiders, but not yet equals. Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, 39(5), 679–698. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1062-9769(99)00023-x

67.

Toutkoushian

R. K.

Bellas

M. L.

Moore

J. V.

(2007). The interaction effects of gender, race, and marital status on faculty salaries. Journal of Higher Education, 78(5), 572–601. https://doi.org/10.1353/jhe.2007.0031

68.

Umbach

P. D.

(2007). Gender equity in the academic labor market: An analysis of academic disciplines. Research in Higher Education, 48(2), 169–192. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-006-9043-2

69.

van den Brink

Benschop

. (2012). Gender practices in the construction of academic excellence: Sheep with five legs. Organization, 19(4), 507–524. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508411414293

70.

Warshaw

J. B.

DeMonbrun

McNaughtan

(2020). A field of striving or equity? Regional public universities and college access. New Directions for Higher Education, 2020(190), 25–39. https://doi.org/10.1002/he.20365

71.

Warshaw

J. B.

Hearn

J. C.

(2014). Leveraging university research to serve economic development: An analysis of policy dynamics in and across three US states. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 36(2), 196–211. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360080X.2014.884678

72.

Wenneras

Wold

(1997). Nepotism and sexism in peer-review. Nature, 387, 341–343.

73.

Y. J.

(2008). Gender disparity in STEM disciplines: A study of faculty attrition and turnover intentions. Research in Higher Education, 49(7), 607–624. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-008-9097-4

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.08 MB

Institutional Striving and Gender Equity in Faculty Salaries and Employment

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References

Supplementary Material