IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i15p5939-d388644.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effects of the Performance-Based Research Fund and Other Factors on the Efficiency of New Zealand Universities: A Malmquist Productivity Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Chia-Nan Wang

    (Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung 80778, Taiwan)

  • Hector Tibo

    (Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung 80778, Taiwan
    Electrical Engineering Department, Technological University of the Philippines Taguig, Taguig City 1630, Philippines)

  • Van Thanh Nguyen

    (Department of Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Hong Bang International University, Ho Chi Minh City 72320, Vietnam)

  • Duy Hung Duong

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung 80778, Taiwan)

Abstract

Universities and academic institutions play a very crucial role in nation development through the production of highly competent manpower. The eight universities in New Zealand have been recognized as some of the top academic institutions in the world. However, the rankings from different international organizations are declining and are hardly likely to rise. Government policies in funding allocation are being blamed for the universities’ regress as they operate with an insufficient amount of funds. This study uses the Malmquist Productivity Index model to examine the technical efficiency, technological change, and productivity performance of the eight universities. This model uses a variety of inputs (number of academic and non-academic staff and total enrolment) and outputs (number of degree and postgraduate graduates, total graduates, and total operating revenue from the Equivalent Full-Time Student (EFTS) funding system and the Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF), etc.) obtained for the period 2013–2018. The overall results show that the average catch-up and frontier-shift efficiencies of the universities are roughly in a “no-change” scenario, meaning that the universities did not make any progress over these years. The Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI) also shows a stable result, with average final values slightly higher than 1, wherein only five universities reached an actual productivity score of 1. It is recommended that the universities improve their internal factors, including personnel, equipment, facilities, and student services, while taking accounts of external aspects, such as rapid growth in technological environments and innovations, to achieve sustainable organizational progress and improved productivity. The re-assessment of government policies for funding allocation is also suggested. This research paper offers insights into the New Zealand universities’ productivity performances for the past few years. This could be used as a reference for other purposes.

Suggested Citation

  • Chia-Nan Wang & Hector Tibo & Van Thanh Nguyen & Duy Hung Duong, 2020. "Effects of the Performance-Based Research Fund and Other Factors on the Efficiency of New Zealand Universities: A Malmquist Productivity Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-18, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:15:p:5939-:d:388644
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/15/5939/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/15/5939/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Worthington, Andrew C. & Lee, Boon L., 2008. "Efficiency, technology and productivity change in Australian universities, 1998-2003," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 285-298, June.
    2. Daghbashyan, Zara, 2009. "Do university units differ in the efficiency of resource utilization?," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 176, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, revised 17 Dec 2012.
    3. Thomas Sexton & Herbert Lewis, 2003. "Two-Stage DEA: An Application to Major League Baseball," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 227-249, April.
    4. Charnes, A. & Cooper, W. W. & Rhodes, E., 1978. "Measuring the efficiency of decision making units," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 2(6), pages 429-444, November.
    5. Chia-Nan Wang & Van Thanh Nguyen & Hoang Tuyet Nhi Thai & Duy Hung Duong, 2018. "Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) Approaches for Solar Power Plant Location Selection in Viet Nam," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-27, June.
    6. Rosa Puertas & Luisa Marti, 2019. "Sustainability in Universities: DEA-GreenMetric," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-17, July.
    7. Caves, Douglas W & Christensen, Laurits R & Diewert, W Erwin, 1982. "The Economic Theory of Index Numbers and the Measurement of Input, Output, and Productivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(6), pages 1393-1414, November.
    8. Joanna Wolszczak-Derlacz & Aleksandra Parteka, 2011. "Efficiency of European public higher education institutions: a two-stage multicountry approach," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 89(3), pages 887-917, December.
    9. Chia-Nan Wang & Anh Luyen Le, 2018. "Measuring the Macroeconomic Performance among Developed Countries and Asian Developing Countries: Past, Present, and Future," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-18, October.
    10. A. T. Flegg & D. O. Allen & K. Field & T. W. Thurlow, 2004. "Measuring the efficiency of British universities: a multi-period data envelopment analysis," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(3), pages 231-249.
    11. Ahn, Taesik & Charnes, Abraham & Cooper, William W., 1988. "Some statistical and DEA evaluations of relative efficiencies of public and private institutions of higher learning," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 22(6), pages 259-269.
    12. Susanne Warning, 2004. "Performance Differences in German Higher Education: Empirical Analysis of Strategic Groups," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 24(4), pages 393-408, June.
    13. Schaffnit, Claire & Rosen, Dan & Paradi, Joseph C., 1997. "Best practice analysis of bank branches: An application of DEA in a large Canadian bank," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 269-289, April.
    14. Gualberto Buela-Casal & Olga Gutiérrez-Martínez & María Paz Bermúdez-Sánchez & Oscar Vadillo-Muñoz, 2007. "Comparative study of international academic rankings of universities," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 71(3), pages 349-365, June.
    15. Cullinane Kevin & Song Dong-Wook & Ji Ping & Wang Teng-Fei, 2004. "An Application of DEA Windows Analysis to Container Port Production Efficiency," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 3(2), pages 1-23, June.
    16. Ouellette, Pierre & Vierstraete, Valerie, 2004. "Technological change and efficiency in the presence of quasi-fixed inputs: A DEA application to the hospital sector," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(3), pages 755-763, May.
    17. Abbott, M. & Doucouliagos, C., 2003. "The efficiency of Australian universities: a data envelopment analysis," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 89-97, February.
    18. Gary Ferrier & Michael Rosko & Vivian Valdmanis, 2006. "Analysis of uncompensated hospital care using a DEA model of output congestion," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 9(2), pages 181-188, May.
    19. Shi, Guang-Ming & Bi, Jun & Wang, Jin-Nan, 2010. "Chinese regional industrial energy efficiency evaluation based on a DEA model of fixing non-energy inputs," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 6172-6179, October.
    20. Johnes, Jill & Johnes, Geraint, 1995. "Research funding and performance in U.K. University Departments of Economics: A frontier analysis," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 301-314, September.
    21. Mette Asmild & Joseph Paradi & Vanita Aggarwall & Claire Schaffnit, 2004. "Combining DEA Window Analysis with the Malmquist Index Approach in a Study of the Canadian Banking Industry," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 67-89, January.
    22. R. D. Banker & A. Charnes & W. W. Cooper, 1984. "Some Models for Estimating Technical and Scale Inefficiencies in Data Envelopment Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(9), pages 1078-1092, September.
    23. Ramanathan, Ramakrishnan, 2006. "Evaluating the comparative performance of countries of the Middle East and North Africa: A DEA application," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 156-167, June.
    24. Tone, Kaoru, 2001. "A slacks-based measure of efficiency in data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(3), pages 498-509, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yamin Du & Wonchul Seo, 2022. "A Comparative Study on the Efficiency of R&D Activities of Universities in China by Region Using DEA–Malmquist," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-13, August.
    2. Fakhra Yasmin & Shengbing Li & Yan Zhang & Petra Poulova & Ahsan Akbar, 2021. "Unveiling the International Students’ Perspective of Service Quality in Chinese Higher Education Institutions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-23, May.
    3. Nguyen Xuan-Huynh & Luu Quoc Chien, 2021. "Performance Measurement of Vietnamese Publishing Firms by the Integration of the GM (1,1) Model and the Malmquist Model," Business Systems Research, Sciendo, vol. 12(1), pages 17-33, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yamin Du & Wonchul Seo, 2022. "A Comparative Study on the Efficiency of R&D Activities of Universities in China by Region Using DEA–Malmquist," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-13, August.
    2. Cristian Barra & Roberto Zotti, 2016. "Measuring Efficiency in Higher Education: An Empirical Study Using a Bootstrapped Data Envelopment Analysis," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 22(1), pages 11-33, February.
    3. Kristof De Witte & Laura López-Torres, 2017. "Efficiency in education: a review of literature and a way forward," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 68(4), pages 339-363, April.
    4. Aparicio, Juan & López-Torres, Laura & Santín, Daniel, 2018. "Economic crisis and public education. A productivity analysis using a Hicks-Moorsteen index," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 34-44.
    5. Manuel Salas-Velasco, 2020. "Measuring and explaining the production efficiency of Spanish universities using a non-parametric approach and a bootstrapped-truncated regression," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 122(2), pages 825-846, February.
    6. Mad Ithnin Salleh & Nurul Fadly Habidin & Abdul Halim Masnan & Nordin Mamat, 2017. "Estimating Technical Efficiency and Bootstrapping Malmquist Indices: Analysis of Malaysian Preschool Sector," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 7(3), pages 440-457, March.
    7. Mehdi Rhaiem, 2017. "Measurement and determinants of academic research efficiency: a systematic review of the evidence," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 110(2), pages 581-615, February.
    8. Kudła Janusz & Stachowiak-Kudła Monika & Figurski Adam, 2016. "Quality of Teaching and Research in Public Higher Education in Poland: Relationship with Financial Indicators and Efficiency," Journal of Management and Business Administration. Central Europe, Sciendo, vol. 24(4), pages 88-108, December.
    9. Mai, Nhat Chi, 2015. "Efficiency of the banking system in Vietnam under financial liberalization," OSF Preprints qsf6d, Center for Open Science.
    10. Yang, Guo-liang & Fukuyama, Hirofumi & Song, Yao-yao, 2018. "Measuring the inefficiency of Chinese research universities based on a two-stage network DEA model," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 10-30.
    11. Marcel Clermont, 2016. "Effectiveness and efficiency of research in Germany over time: an analysis of German business schools between 2001 and 2009," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 108(3), pages 1347-1381, September.
    12. Yang, Guoliang & Ahlgren, Per & Yang, Liying & Rousseau, Ronald & Ding, Jielan, 2016. "Using multi-level frontiers in DEA models to grade countries/territories," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 238-253.
    13. Yolanda Fernández-Santos & Almudena Martínez-Campillo & José Miguel Fernández-Fernández, 2015. "Determinantes de la eficiencia en las universidades públicas españolas: un análisis DEA en dos etapas," Investigaciones de Economía de la Educación volume 10, in: Marta Rahona López & Jennifer Graves (ed.), Investigaciones de Economía de la Educación 10, edition 1, volume 10, chapter 25, pages 491-508, Asociación de Economía de la Educación.
    14. Mishra, Neelesh Kumar & Chakraborty, Abhishek & Singh, Sanjeet & Ranjan, Prabhat, 2023. "Efficiency analysis of engineering colleges in India: Decomposition into parallel sub-processes systems," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    15. Renato A. Villano & Carolyn‐Dung T. T. Tran, 2021. "Survey on technical efficiency in higher education: A meta‐fractional regression analysis," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(1), pages 110-135, February.
    16. Facundo Quiroga-Martínez & Esteban Fernández-Vázquez & Catalina Lucía Alberto, 2018. "Efficiency in public higher education on Argentina 2004–2013: institutional decisions and university-specific effects," Latin American Economic Review, Springer;Centro de Investigaciòn y Docencia Económica (CIDE), vol. 27(1), pages 1-18, December.
    17. Yolanda Fernández-Santos & Almudena Martínez-Campillo & José Miguel Fernández-Fernández, 2016. "¿Son eficientes en docencia, investigación y transferencia de conocimiento las universidades públicas españolas? Medida y determinantes," Investigaciones de Economía de la Educación volume 11, in: José Manuel Cordero Ferrera & Rosa Simancas Rodríguez (ed.), Investigaciones de Economía de la Educación 11, edition 1, volume 11, chapter 35, pages 637-652, Asociación de Economía de la Educación.
    18. Chia-Nan Wang & Hector Tibo & Duy Hung Duong, 2020. "Renewable Energy Utilization Analysis of Highly and Newly Industrialized Countries Using an Undesirable Output Model," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-21, May.
    19. Sun, Yu & Yang, Feng & Wang, Dawei & Ang, Sheng, 2023. "Efficiency evaluation for higher education institutions in China considering unbalanced regional development: A meta-frontier Super-SBM model," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    20. Zhang, Ganggang & Wu, Jie & Zhu, Qingyuan, 2020. "Performance evaluation and enrollment quota allocation for higher education institutions in China," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:15:p:5939-:d:388644. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.