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University academics’ preferences for hiring and promotion systems

ABSTRACT Academic employment systems have recently been subjected to policy-driven changes in many countries, but the university sector is still governed by collegial dynamics in which academics’ views and attitudes are important. The present study, based on data from questionnaire survey responses from 4460 faculty members in public universities in Spain, attempts to account for the preferences of academics for the current system of accreditation for hiring and promotion. Following two previous reforms and more than ten years of operation of the accreditation system, over fifty per cent of academics would prefer a different model for hiring and promotion. We identify four sets of explanatory factors linked to: academics’ self-interest, beliefs and values, personal experience and learning, and socialization and institutional factors. We find that academics’ preferences are neither solely nor primarily explained by their career advancement interests. Our results show that preferences regarding the hiring and promotion systems are strongly associated with a set of beliefs and values, especially the belief in the relative suitability of accreditation to guarantee merit-based selection.