The dimensions of influence on research administrator behavior: toward a theoretical model of research administration as a public service profession.

Introduction

Problem Statement

Very few empirical studies have been done on research administration. In 1986, Hensley noted, "it is widely acknowledged that research support personnel are essential ... to the achievement of the specific missions of postsecondary institutions, and to American technological leadership, yet this vital group's value to science is largely unrecognized in comprehensive studies; and the field is generally ignored by disciplinary associations in their assessment of the science and academic infrastructure" (pp. 47, 48). Hensley's statement holds true in this century, over 20 years later; with the emergence of the study of research integrity as a scholarly field, it is of vital importance that research administrators define a scholarly model to follow for development, or some other group will define it for us. It is suggested that we establish a modern theoretical model that situates research administration in the overall study of the professions and provides an important theoretical stronghold.

It was not until Roberts (2005) set out to study the perceptions of research administrators toward certification that empirical research design and data collection were applied to research administration professionals. In 2006, Atkinson performed another empirical study on research administrators to determine their overall normative and professional orientation with regard to research integrity issues. The former was a microanalysis; the latter focused on a systemic, or macro-level, analysis. These kinds of studies are good for the profession, and more are needed.

In the recent history of western civilization, the idea of "profession" has expanded beyond the mediaeval constructs of doctor, lawyer, clergy, and professor. Organizational expansion and institutionalization have effects on behavior that cannot be ignored. Students of organizations recognize two groups, (1) governmental units and (2) professional groups, as responsible for developing rules and regulations for managing and shaping the institutional environment (Scott, 2003). DiMaggio and Powell maintained in 1983 that the professions had become the 20th century thought leaders in organizations, serving to shape and change their organizations. For the most part, these effects have not changed.

University research administration's behavior is influenced by the entire process of professionalism, making research administrators the thought leaders in the management of research. Goode (1957, 1961, 1969) envisioned this process on a "continuum." Institutional scholars often refer to this as the professionalization process, which helps establish legitimacy and power. Previous studies of professionalism in higher education administration have demonstrated that comparing a university-based professional group along the continuum of professionalism provides much needed information to establish an academic assessment of the group's professional behavior, status and legitimacy, both in society and within the university organization (Braxton, 1992, 1999; Bray, 2002; Caboni, 2001). However, as Abbott (1988) contended, the continuum alone is not solely responsible for the behavioral foundations of a profession. The wider organization and the linkages of the profession to other organizational contexts must also be taken into account.

History of the Study of the Professions

Goode (1957, 1961, 1969) might have placed research administration in the class of semi-professions, where protecting the client base was of utmost importance, but the intimacy between the professional and the client appeared diminished or distant. According to Abbot (1988), Bucher and Strauss (1961), Harries-Jenkins (1970) and Wilensky (1964), research administration is a profession positioned within a complex university organization, in a complex research system.

On an historical note, research administrators were installed in universities to rationalize and formalize the demands of the federal government, private industry and philanthropic organizations. But as research universities grew and the influx of external funds increased, so did research administration's responsibility for making sense of the increasing burden of regulatory requirements. Research administrators found themselves in an open organizational environment, where monetary and information exchange occurs within many different contexts (Kalas, 1987).

The literature of the professions followed its own developmental process, with relevant themes surfacing and evolving along the way. The modern professional continuum includes, but is not limited to, medicine, law, (Abbott, 1988; Carr-Sanders & Wilson, 1964; Goode, 1969), the clergy (Carr-Sanders & Wilson, 1964), the professoriate (Braxton, 1999) and other emerging or semi-professions, such as accountancy, nursing, dental hygiene, social work (Abbott, 1990; Greenwood, 1957), university fund raising (Caboni, 2001) and Deans (Bray, 2002). Research administration should consider itself along this continuum, within and among the vast family of professional groups,

The study of the professions is a sociological discipline with a varied but interesting history. The late 20th century literature is steeped in a classification approach. Sociologists believed that the educated professions were responsible for holding society together because of their education and status. In the 1980s and 1990s, it became apparent that a systems perspective was necessary to balance the classification approach, given that organizations and organizational systems also affect the professionalization of many occupations, including those referred to in the literature as "free" professions, such as medicine, law, and the clergy. These works defined what constitutes a profession in modern society, both in the United States and Europe. The body of literature in the sociology of professions offers suggestions for areas of study in the field, and suggestions concerning which characteristics are most important for defining a profession.

Scholars regularly identify the comprehensive work of Carr-Sanders and Wilson (1933), a qualitative case study that served as a foundation for identifying the initial characteristics of the professions. Parsons (1939), Goode (1969), and Harries-Jenkins (1970) are also cornerstone works in the sociology of professions, particularly with regard to the characteristics of the "American" linear professional continuum. Carr-Sanders and Wilson (1933) outlined a general framework for the study of professions in the United Kingdom, listing an eclectic mix of professions starting with lawyers and doctors and ending with authors, artists and brokers. Some of the more interesting professions studied were midwives, masseurs, mine managers, and biophysical assistants. The purpose of their study was to review various occupations that claimed the title profession and those occupations that adopted some of the notable characteristics of the ancient professions. Carr-Sanders and Wilson used a well bounded qualitative case study approach. The themes resulted in a somewhat consistent set of parameters that have been used to characterize professions to the present day,

Carr-Sanders and Wilson discovered that the term profession holds different meanings for different occupational groups; to draw an arbitrary line between professions and non-professions would have only increased the complexity of the study of professions. This view appears to be firmly held into the present day. Carr-Sanders and Wilson also suggested that professionalism is best regarded as a professional matrix made up of a myriad of professional characteristics. The "ancient professions" of lawyers and doctors, for instance, landed in the center of the matrix while all the other occupations landed in and around the center, depending on the number of professional characteristics the occupation expressed (Carr-Sanders & Wilson, 1933). The matrix view appears to have been proposed prior to the linear continuum model adopted later by American sociologists, particularly Greenwood (1957) and Goode (1957, 1961, 1969). Nonetheless, these works illustrate how the professions, regardless of their relevant position in society, land somewhere on the professional matrix or continuum. Social status is determined tacitly by society and not necessarily by the position the occupation holds in the matrix itself.

The prominent themes that emerged in the Carr-Sanders & Wilson study were that professions are typically characterized by: (1) long-term and specialized training, such as certification programs and continuing education programs; (2) service to the community, such as educational seminars on topics of specialization: (3) honor codes, such as a professional code of ethics; (4) establishment of professional associations, such as the Society of Research Administrators International and the National Council of University Research Administration; (5) control of access to the field, such as an entrance exam or bar exam; (6) a specialized body of knowledge, such as law or medicine; (7) and an acknowledgement that occupations within bureaucracies (or public life) can be considered professions to a certain degree on the matrix.