Academic contests? Merit pay in Canadian Universities

This paper examines the application of merit pay in Canadian universities. Designed to motivate and reward greater productivity, the effectiveness of merit pay depends upon the relative importance of competitive versus cooper ative behaviour in the academic workplace, the capacity to evaluate individ ual performance, and the ability to design clear financial signals appropri ate to the objectives of the institution. Differences among universities - related to their relative emphasis upon graduate training/research versus u ndergraduate instruction, their ability to measure performance, and workpla ce culture - can be expected to produce differences in compensation methods . A logit analysis is conducted that suggests that an institution's likelih ood of having a merit pay scheme varies according to region; that it increa ses with the emphasis placed on graduate training and research; and that it declines in the presence of a unionized faculty association This suggests that the adoption of performance-based pay is apt to meet stronger resistan ce in undergraduate and unionized institutions.