‘Publish or perish’: Family life and academic research productivity

Research purpose: The influence of work-to-family and family-to-work spillovers is well documented in the human resources literature. However, little is known of the relationships between the pressures faced by academics to publish and the potential family life consequences of being a highly product...

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Main Author: Chris W. Callaghan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: AOSIS 2016-05-01
Series:SA Journal of Human Resource Management
Subjects:
Online Access:https://sajhrm.co.za/index.php/sajhrm/article/view/727
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author Chris W. Callaghan
author_facet Chris W. Callaghan
author_sort Chris W. Callaghan
collection DOAJ
description Research purpose: The influence of work-to-family and family-to-work spillovers is well documented in the human resources literature. However, little is known of the relationships between the pressures faced by academics to publish and the potential family life consequences of being a highly productive academic. Research design, approach and method: This research sought to investigate these relationships within the context of a large South African university by testing associations between family life variables such as marriage and dependent children against measures of the following specific types of research publication: (1) South African Department of Higher Education and Training–accredited journal publications; (2) Thompson Reuters Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) and ProQuest’s International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS)– indexed journal article publications; (3) conference proceedings publications; (4) conference paper presentations; (5) book chapter publications; (6) book publications; and (7) gross research productivity, reflecting a volume or quantity measure of research publication. Main findings: ISI and/or IBSS journal article publication is found to be negatively associated with dependent children, but only for male academics, and to be negatively associated with female gender over and above the effect of family life variables in testing. Practical/managerial implications: Human resources managers in universities need to be cognisant of the specific pressures faced by staff that are required to produce ever more research publications, in order to help them achieve work–life balance. Contribution: In a global context of increasing pressures for research publication, and for higher and higher numbers of publications, it is necessary to identify the potential costs involved for high-volume–producing academics, particularly in terms of family versus work. Keywords: research productivity; family-work life balance
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spelling doaj.art-7659e2df5e78477490851d8fa77951f72022-12-22T03:02:10ZengAOSISSA Journal of Human Resource Management1683-75842071-078X2016-05-01141e1e910.4102/sajhrm.v14i1.727363‘Publish or perish’: Family life and academic research productivityChris W. Callaghan0Division of Management and Human Resources Management, School of Economic and Business Sciences, University of the WitwatersrandResearch purpose: The influence of work-to-family and family-to-work spillovers is well documented in the human resources literature. However, little is known of the relationships between the pressures faced by academics to publish and the potential family life consequences of being a highly productive academic. Research design, approach and method: This research sought to investigate these relationships within the context of a large South African university by testing associations between family life variables such as marriage and dependent children against measures of the following specific types of research publication: (1) South African Department of Higher Education and Training–accredited journal publications; (2) Thompson Reuters Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) and ProQuest’s International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS)– indexed journal article publications; (3) conference proceedings publications; (4) conference paper presentations; (5) book chapter publications; (6) book publications; and (7) gross research productivity, reflecting a volume or quantity measure of research publication. Main findings: ISI and/or IBSS journal article publication is found to be negatively associated with dependent children, but only for male academics, and to be negatively associated with female gender over and above the effect of family life variables in testing. Practical/managerial implications: Human resources managers in universities need to be cognisant of the specific pressures faced by staff that are required to produce ever more research publications, in order to help them achieve work–life balance. Contribution: In a global context of increasing pressures for research publication, and for higher and higher numbers of publications, it is necessary to identify the potential costs involved for high-volume–producing academics, particularly in terms of family versus work. Keywords: research productivity; family-work life balancehttps://sajhrm.co.za/index.php/sajhrm/article/view/727research productivityfamily-work life balance
spellingShingle Chris W. Callaghan
‘Publish or perish’: Family life and academic research productivity
SA Journal of Human Resource Management
research productivity
family-work life balance
title ‘Publish or perish’: Family life and academic research productivity
title_full ‘Publish or perish’: Family life and academic research productivity
title_fullStr ‘Publish or perish’: Family life and academic research productivity
title_full_unstemmed ‘Publish or perish’: Family life and academic research productivity
title_short ‘Publish or perish’: Family life and academic research productivity
title_sort publish or perish family life and academic research productivity
topic research productivity
family-work life balance
url https://sajhrm.co.za/index.php/sajhrm/article/view/727
work_keys_str_mv AT chriswcallaghan publishorperishfamilylifeandacademicresearchproductivity