Investigating the Impact of Financial Resources, Academic Workload, and Data Accessibility on Scholarly Productivity: A Case Study of Accounting Lecturers in South African Universities of Technology

Abstract

This paper sought to examine the impact of access to funding, teaching and administrative responsibilities, and access to research data on research outputs among accounting academic staff in South African Universities of Technology. Adopting a positivism paradigm and quantitative research approach, a data was gathered using survey from accounting academic staff in six South African Universities of Technology. A close-ended questionnaire, based on a 4-point Likert scale, was distributed to 96 respondents using census sampling. The measurement model had good fit indices, ensuring the strength of the constructs. Confirmation of measurement scales through exploratory factor analysis, discriminant validity, and convergent validity asserted the reliability of the constructs. Hypotheses testing using structural equation modeling confirmed positive causal relationships between access to funding, teaching/administrative responsibilities, access to data/research tools, and research outputs among accounting lecturers in Universities of Technology. Results show that sufficient financial resources greatly enhance research activities, while high academic workload is a limiting factor to productivity. The availability of relevant data is also found to be an important facilitator for scholarly output. The study concludes by providing recommendations for university policy changes with a view to streamlining resource allocation and support structures to create an environment supportive of research and innovation among accounting lecturers.