An Empirical Study on the Influence of Individual Characteristics of University Researchers on Mobility Intentions

高校科研人员个体特征影响流动意愿的实证研究

Abstract

University scientific researchers are the fundamental drivers of fostering new productive forces and facilitating high-quality development, playing a pivotal role in integrating education, science, and technology while nurturing talents. Since the implementation of the "Double First-Class" initiative, inter-institutional mobility among university scientific researchers has become increasingly frequent and disorderly due to various contributing factors. Instead of solely attributing it to external environmental factors, it is more meaningful and valuable to analyze the impact of individual characteristics on their intention to switch institutions from the perspective of scientific researchers themselves. Consequently, effective measures can be implemented to optimize this situation. This study randomly selected 878 representative scientific researchers from 13 provinces in eastern, central, western and northeastern China to conduct a questionnaire survey on how individual characteristics influence mobility willingness, and conducted descriptive, differential and regression analysis of statistical data. The study found that the overall mobility willingness of university scientific researchers in China is relatively strong, but there are differences in mobility willingness among different individual characteristics. Among them, gender, age, seniority, title, school type, discipline field, and marital status show significant differences in mobility willingness, while education, region, and children's situation do not show significant differences in mobility willingness. Further regression analysis results show the correlation between gender, age, title, school type, discipline field, and marital status with scientific researchers' mobility willingness. Based on this, the study conducted exploratory analysis of the relationship between individual characteristics and mobility willingness in different dimensions, proposed a multi-dimensional and coordinated guiding strategy, and provided targeted suggestions from the government, universities, and scientific researchers to promote the scientific, reasonable, orderly mobility, and sustainable development of scientific researchers.