Scholarlink

<p>This study explores potential institutional ‘gaming’ behaviors among Italian universities within the context of the VQR 2020–2024 national research evaluation exercise. Using mixed-integer linear programming to simulate potential faculty reallocations across departments, we assess the extent to which strategic internal restructuring can affect university performance outcomes. Results indicate that universities with lower baseline research scores have stronger incentives for internal reorganization. Furthermore, while intra-departmental collaboration provides opportunities for gaming through duplicable outputs, it is the quality of collaborative research that significantly drives evaluation score improvements. The findings highlight critical policy implications, calling for refined evaluation criteria and increased transparency to mitigate gaming behaviors.</p>

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

Faculty shuffle: simulating institutional gaming in research evaluation

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

    开放获取

  • 发表日期：

    2026年5月16日

查看全文
  • Giovanni Abramo,
  • Pasquale Carotenuto,
  • Ciriaco Andrea D’Angelo,
  • Alessio Salvatore

摘要

This study explores potential institutional ‘gaming’ behaviors among Italian universities within the context of the VQR 2020–2024 national research evaluation exercise. Using mixed-integer linear programming to simulate potential faculty reallocations across departments, we assess the extent to which strategic internal restructuring can affect university performance outcomes. Results indicate that universities with lower baseline research scores have stronger incentives for internal reorganization. Furthermore, while intra-departmental collaboration provides opportunities for gaming through duplicable outputs, it is the quality of collaborative research that significantly drives evaluation score improvements. The findings highlight critical policy implications, calling for refined evaluation criteria and increased transparency to mitigate gaming behaviors.