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Does the merger of universities promote their scientific research performance? Evidence from China

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  • Kang, Yankun
  • Liu, Ruiming

Abstract

University mergers fundamentally aim to enhance the level of higher education and scientific research performance through resource integration by “reorganization”. However, whether university mergers achieve the latter goal has been subject to controversy. With the help of the “quasi-experiment” of Chinese colleges and universities merged in the 1990s, this study determines the impact of university mergers on scientific research performance. Panel data of 431 colleges and universities from 1993 to 2013 in The compilation of scientific and technical statistics of Chinese higher education and difference in differences method are used. Results show that the merger of colleges and universities exert a significant negative impact on the scientific research performance due to excessive government interventions and difficulties in cultural integration. The merger effect is related to the number of university participants and degree of government intervention. Therefore, university mergers cannot effectively promote the level of scientific research, unable to bring economies of scale and rather lead to diseconomies of scale.

Suggested Citation

  • Kang, Yankun & Liu, Ruiming, 2021. "Does the merger of universities promote their scientific research performance? Evidence from China," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(1).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:respol:v:50:y:2021:i:1:s0048733320301736
    DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2020.104098
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    3. Ma, Ding & Cai, Zhishan & Zhu, Chengkai, 2022. "Technology transfer efficiency of universities in China: A three-stage framework based on the dynamic network slacks-based measurement model," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    4. Meiling Kang & Yucheng Li & Zhongkuang Zhao & Minjuan Zheng & Han Wu, 2022. "Does Human Capital Homogeneously Improve the Corporate Innovation: Evidence from China’s Higher Education Expansion in the Late 1990s," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-19, September.
    5. Chu, Shuai & Wu, Mengfei, 2021. "Does the geographic clustering of universities promote their scientific research performance? Evidence from China," GLO Discussion Paper Series 963, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    6. Claudiu Vasile Kifor & Daniel Teodorescu & Tudorel Andrei & Roxana Săvescu, 2021. "Research Production and International Visibility in Higher Education: The Evolution of Romanian Universities from 2011 to 2019," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-18, December.

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