IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ris/tecemp/1912.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Dealing with heterogeneity: An analysis of Spanish universities

Author

Listed:
  • Berbegal-Mirabent, Jasmina

    (Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC Barcelona, Spain))

  • Gil-Doménech, Dolors

    (Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC Barcelona, Spain))

  • de la Torre, Rocío

    (Public University of Navarra)

Abstract

Universities are highly dependent on regulatory frameworks, the geographical setting as well as on requirements for the creation of the different outputs they pursue. As a result, universities are heterogeneous organizations. This study analyses universities’ heterogeneity in Spain. By using a dataset from the Spanish higher education system, we model the objective function of universities and investigate which factors help explain universities’ performance, in terms of the three missions that they mostly perform (teaching, research and technology transfer). Also, a cluster analysis is performed to categorise Spanish universities. The findings contribute to better understand the different behaviours shown by universities. The findings underline the heterogeneity of Spanish universities: while some universities focus more on formation (teaching) goals, other universities excel at disseminating knowledge through different scientific outputs. The study concludes with a detailed inter- and intra- group analysis.

Suggested Citation

  • Berbegal-Mirabent, Jasmina & Gil-Doménech, Dolors & de la Torre, Rocío, 2019. "Dealing with heterogeneity: An analysis of Spanish universities," TEC Empresarial, School of Business, Costa Rica Institute of Technology (ITCR), vol. 13(3), pages 58-77.
    • Handle: RePEc:ris:tecemp:1912
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://revistas.tec.ac.cr/index.php/tec_empresarial/article/view/4473
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jeremy Foltz & Bradford Barham & Jean-Paul Chavas & Kwansoo Kim, 2012. "Efficiency and technological change at US research universities," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 37(2), pages 171-186, April.
    2. Daraio, Cinzia & Bonaccorsi, Andrea & Simar, Léopold, 2015. "Rankings and university performance: A conditional multidimensional approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 244(3), pages 918-930.
    3. Berbegal-Mirabent, Jasmina & Sánchez García, José Luís & Ribeiro-Soriano, D. Enrique, 2015. "University–industry partnerships for the provision of R&D services," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(7), pages 1407-1413.
    4. Claudia Curi & Cinzia Daraio & Patrick Llerena, 2015. "The productivity of French technology transfer offices after government reforms," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(28), pages 3008-3019, June.
    5. Agasisti, Tommaso & Barra, Cristian & Zotti, Roberto, 2016. "Evaluating the efficiency of Italian public universities (2008–2011) in presence of (unobserved) heterogeneity," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 47-58.
    6. Giovanni Abramo & Ciriaco Andrea D’Angelo & Fabio Pugini, 2008. "The measurement of Italian universities’ research productivity by a non parametric-bibliometric methodology," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 76(2), pages 225-244, August.
    7. Antonio Di Paolo & Ferran Mañé, 2016. "Misusing our talent? Overeducation, overskilling and skill underutilisation among Spanish PhD graduates," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 27(4), pages 432-452, December.
    8. S. Breschi & F. Lissoni & F. Montobbio, 2007. "The Scientific Productivity Of Academic Inventors: New Evidence From Italian Data," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(2), pages 101-118.
    9. Maria Olivares & Heike Wetzel, 2014. "Editor's Choice Competing in the Higher Education Market: Empirical Evidence for Economies of Scale and Scope in German Higher Education Institutions," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 60(4), pages 653-680.
    10. D'Este, P. & Patel, P., 2007. "University-industry linkages in the UK: What are the factors underlying the variety of interactions with industry?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 1295-1313, November.
    11. Johnes, Jill, 2006. "Data envelopment analysis and its application to the measurement of efficiency in higher education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 273-288, June.
    12. Ann-Charlotte Fridh & Bo Carlsson, 2002. "special issue: Technology transfer in United States universities," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 199-232.
    13. Tommaso Agasisti & Sabine Gralka, 2019. "The transient and persistent efficiency of Italian and German universities: a stochastic frontier analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(46), pages 5012-5030, October.
    14. Daraio, Cinzia & Bonaccorsi, Andrea & Geuna, Aldo & Lepori, Benedetto & Bach, Laurent & Bogetoft, Peter & F. Cardoso, Margarida & Castro-Martinez, Elena & Crespi, Gustavo & de Lucio, Ignacio Fernandez, 2011. "The European university landscape: A micro characterization based on evidence from the Aquameth project," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 148-164, February.
    15. Bozeman, Barry & Gaughan, Monica, 2007. "Impacts of grants and contracts on academic researchers' interactions with industry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 694-707, June.
    16. Frederick van der Ploeg, 2008. "Towards Evidence-based Reform of European Universities," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 54(2), pages 99-120, June.
    17. Daniel Jacoby, 2006. "Effects of Part-Time Faculty Employment on Community College Graduation Rates," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 77(6), pages 1081-1103, November.
    18. Moed, Henk F. & de Moya-Anegón, Félix & López-Illescas, Carmen & Visser, Martijn, 2011. "Is concentration of university research associated with better research performance?," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 649-658.
    19. Alessandro Muscio, 2010. "What drives the university use of technology transfer offices? Evidence from Italy," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 181-202, April.
    20. Robert Huggins & Andrew Johnston & Chris Stride, 2012. "Knowledge networks and universities: Locational and organisational aspects of knowledge transfer interactions," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(7-8), pages 475-502, September.
    21. 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.
    22. Jill Johnes & Maria Portela & Emmanuel Thanassoulis, 2017. "Efficiency in education," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 68(4), pages 331-338, April.
    23. Wolszczak-Derlacz, Joanna, 2017. "An evaluation and explanation of (in)efficiency in higher education institutions in Europe and the U.S. with the application of two-stage semi-parametric DEA," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(9), pages 1595-1605.
    24. Caldera, Aida & Debande, Olivier, 2010. "Performance of Spanish universities in technology transfer: An empirical analysis," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(9), pages 1160-1173, November.
    25. Réjean Landry & Nabil Amara & Mathieu Ouimet, 2007. "Determinants of knowledge transfer: evidence from Canadian university researchers in natural sciences and engineering," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 32(6), pages 561-592, December.
    26. Abankina, Irina & Aleskerov, Fuad & Belousova, Veronika & Gokhberg, Leonid & Kiselgof, Sofya & Petrushchenko, Vsevolod & Shvydun, Sergey & Zinkovsky, Kirill, 2016. "From equality to diversity: Classifying Russian universities in a performance oriented system," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 228-239.
    27. Johnes, Jill, 2006. "Measuring teaching efficiency in higher education: An application of data envelopment analysis to economics graduates from UK Universities 1993," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 174(1), pages 443-456, October.
    28. Melville McMillan & Wing Chan, 2006. "University Efficiency: A Comparison and Consolidation of Results from Stochastic and Non-stochastic Methods," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 1-30.
    29. Davinia Palomares-Montero & Adela García-Aracil, 2011. "What are the key indicators for evaluating the activities of universities?," Research Evaluation, Oxford University Press, vol. 20(5), pages 353-363, December.
    30. Berbegal-Mirabent, Jasmina & Lafuente, Esteban & Solé, Francesc, 2013. "The pursuit of knowledge transfer activities: An efficiency analysis of Spanish universities," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(10), pages 2051-2059.
    31. Wonglimpiyarat, Jarunee, 2016. "The innovation incubator, university business incubator and technology transfer strategy: The case of Thailand," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 18-27.
    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. Arias-Valle, María Belén & Berbegal-Mirabent, Jasmina & Marimon-Viadiu, Frederic, 2021. "How do socially responsible universities perform? the case of Spanish universities," TEC Empresarial, School of Business, Costa Rica Institute of Technology (ITCR), vol. 15(3), pages 63-82.
    2. Horváth, Krisztina & Berbegal-Mirabent, Jasmina, 2022. "The role of universities on the consolidation of knowledge-based sectors: A spatial econometric analysis of KIBS formation rates in Spanish regions," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).

    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. Mehdi Rhaiem & Nabil Amara, 2020. "Determinants of research efficiency in Canadian business schools: evidence from scholar-level data," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(1), pages 53-99, October.
    2. Joan Crespo & Jesús Peiró-Palomino & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2020. "Does university performance have an economic payoff for their home regions? Evidence for the Spanish provinces," Working Papers 2020/20, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    3. Berbegal-Mirabent, Jasmina & Sánchez García, José Luís & Ribeiro-Soriano, D. Enrique, 2015. "University–industry partnerships for the provision of R&D services," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(7), pages 1407-1413.
    4. Shamohammadi, Mehdi & Oh, Dong-hyun, 2019. "Measuring the efficiency changes of private universities of Korea: A two-stage network data envelopment analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    5. Degl’Innocenti, Marta & Matousek, Roman & Tzeremes, Nickolaos G., 2019. "The interconnections of academic research and universities’ “third mission”: Evidence from the UK," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(9), pages 1-1.
    6. Gralka, Sabine, 2018. "Stochastic frontier analysis in higher education: A systematic review," CEPIE Working Papers 05/18, Technische Universität Dresden, Center of Public and International Economics (CEPIE).
    7. Erik E. Lehmann & Michele Meoli & Stefano Paleari & Sarah A. E. Stockinger, 2018. "Approaching effects of the economic crisis on university efficiency: a comparative study of Germany and Italy," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 8(1), pages 37-54, March.
    8. Tommaso Agasisti & Cristian Barra & Roberto Zotti, 2019. "Research, knowledge transfer, and innovation: The effect of Italian universities’ efficiency on local economic development 2006−2012," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(5), pages 819-849, November.
    9. Victoria Galan-Muros & Todd Davey, 2019. "The UBC ecosystem: putting together a comprehensive framework for university-business cooperation," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 1311-1346, August.
    10. Amara, Nabil & Rhaiem, Mehdi & Halilem, Norrin, 2020. "Assessing the research efficiency of Canadian scholars in the management field: Evidence from the DEA and fsQCA," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 296-306.
    11. 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.
    12. Yaisawarng, Suthathip & Ng, Ying Chu, 2014. "The impact of higher education reform on research performance of Chinese universities," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 94-105.
    13. Berbegal-Mirabent, Jasmina & Lafuente, Esteban & Solé, Francesc, 2013. "The pursuit of knowledge transfer activities: An efficiency analysis of Spanish universities," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(10), pages 2051-2059.
    14. Daraio, Cinzia & Bonaccorsi, Andrea & Simar, Léopold, 2015. "Rankings and university performance: A conditional multidimensional approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 244(3), pages 918-930.
    15. 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.
    16. Barra, Cristian & Lagravinese, Raffaele & Zotti, Roberto, 2018. "Does econometric methodology matter to rank universities? An analysis of Italian higher education system," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 104-120.
    17. Biao Chen & Yan Chen & Xianghua Qu & Wanyu Huang & Panyu Wang, 2023. "Do Financial Investment, Disciplinary Differences, and Level of Development Impact on the Efficiency of Resource Allocation in Higher Education: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-23, April.
    18. Rossi, Federica & Fassio,Claudio & Geuna, Aldo, 2014. "The Role of Institutional Characteristics in Knowledge Transfer: A Comparative Analysis of Two Italian Universities," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis LEI & BRICK - Laboratory of Economics of Innovation "Franco Momigliano", Bureau of Research in Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge, Collegio 201410, University of Turin.
    19. 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.
    20. Zaira García-Tórtola & David Conesa & Joan Crespo & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2024. "Unlocking University Efficiency: A Bayesian Stochastic Frontier Analysis," Working Papers 2024/05, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).

    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:ris:tecemp:1912. 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: Esteban Lafuente (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/eaitccr.html .

    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.