Hybridity, coping mechanisms, and academic performance management: Comparing three countries

Recent developments in the higher education sectors of the Netherlands, Sweden, and the UK concerning accountability and performance measurement in research have resulted in a variety of responses from individual academics. The concept of hybridity enables us to explain these developments over time. Our longitudinal data consisted of 100 interviews in 2007 and 2011. There are more managerial and performance-oriented measures at the organizational level, involving a stronger output orientation and increased formalization, leading to an altered research culture. At the individual level, the focus on output appraisal expands the potential importance of sanctions, making managerial and professional tasks more connected. The concept of hybridity at the organizational and the individual levels places our theoretically developed coping mechanisms in a more dynamic perspective. This has elaborated our understanding of how academics cope with performance management, within their institutional and national contexts