To what degree does the desire for promotion motivate faculty to perform research? Testing the expectancy theory

Based on the rationale of expectancy theory, this article examines to what degree the desire for promotion motivates faculty to do research. Using Tai wanese faculty survey data, it is found that faculty members who show highe r motivation for promotion display better research performance than their c olleagues who show lower motivation for promotion. This article also indica tes that different kinds of rewards have different motivating effects on va rious types of faculty research performance. After controlling for the effe cts of demographic, educational, and institutional variables, the results o f logistic regressions show that faculty who think promotion and the satisf action of curiosity are important tend to publish articles; faculty who wan t to demonstrate their mastery of their disciplines tend to publish books; and faculty who care about personal income are more likely to seek and rece ive the National Science Council Research Outcome Grant.