Delving into the conceptualization of research agenda setting of academics from applied disciplinary fields : a regional exploration in mainland China and Hong Kong

Abstract

The process of academics setting their research agendas is a vital aspect of research activities in routine academic life, yet it remains largely unstudied in higher education. The process of probing into an individual academic’s research agenda setting strategies is vital as it provides insight into how research is framed, as well as an opportunity for identifying a variety of factors that shape each academic’s research vision and blueprint of an academic career. Over the past few years, research agenda setting has emerged as an increasingly significant issue in higher education studies, however, mainly with regard to western patterns of academic practices. This study is aimed at uncovering how academics from Hong Kong and mainland China form their research agendas in applied disciplinary fields and delving into the mechanism of research agenda setting from an Asian perspective. By identifying academics from mainland China and Hong Kong as the target group, this thesis delves into the research agenda setting mechanisms of academics who specialize in applied disciplinary fields. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate perspectives on components, distinguishing features of research agendas, and disentangle the factors shaping the process of agenda setting. The research methodology used in this thesis is grounded theory, with fifty-one in-depth narrative interviews conducted at ten top-tier research-oriented universities throughout mainland China and seven research-oriented universities in Hong Kong. This thesis argues that research agendas encompass four major components, namely, content, time, goals, and methods. In the thesis, the distinguishing features identified can be applied to both research agendas and research agenda setting. First, they may be the product of conscious acts or unconscious efforts of individual academics. Second, they can be classified on the basis of time ranges and decision-making tactics into strategic (long-term), operational (mid-term), and tactical (short-term) agendas, thus relating to academic research and/or academic careers. Third, the setting of academic research agendas may involve several layers of organizational considerations, including university alignment, faculty alignment, and department alignment. Fourth, agenda setting is forward-looking, perhaps path-dependent in a similar manner to research agendas, and can be categorized into the future, the present, and the past by temporal dimensions. Fifth, research agendas and agenda setting are also dynamic, and evolve over time under the influence of various factors. Following the untangling of research agendas, a strategic research agenda setting of individual academics is proposed in this thesis to uncover the mechanism of research agenda setting of academics from the applied disciplines in mainland China and Hong Kong. The strategic research agenda theory is composed of four parts, among them, the motivations and conditions are the determining factors to shape research agenda setting, while life experience and environment affect the process indirectly by interfering with the motivations and conditions. When the motivations match the conditions required by each individual academic, a research agenda is scheduled by the academic. It is found that motivations and conditions interplay with each other.