The Impact of Research Competencies on Research Quality of Academic Staff at Palestinian Universities: The Mediating Role of Research Productivity and Moderating Role of Scientific Strategies رسالة ماجستير

Abstract

This research aimed to study the impact of research competencies of the academic staff in the Palestinians universities and the quality and quantity of research with examine the universities strategies for scientific research. To achieve the goals of the study, the researcher reviewed previous studies and existing literature, then used descriptive and analytical approach to build a questionnaire to collect data. The questionnaire had five dimensions; demographic information, universities strategies, competencies, research productivity, and research quality. The sample was (176) randomly selected from faculty members in three different universities in the West Bank -Palestine. The results of this study showed the following main results. First, competencies of academics affect their productivity and quality of scientific research (R=0.399, R2=0.159; R=0.65, R2=0.425 respectively). Second, it also showed that the universities strategies do not affect the productivity and quality of research. Moreover, research productivity partially mediates the relationship between scientific competency and research quality, where the indirect effect of scientific competency on research quality is 0.087. the direct effect is 0.637. Therefore, the total effect of scientific competency on research quality is 0.724. The study had also found that there are statistically significant differences due to gender, age, academic rank, and educational level factors on research quality. The study had recommended to prepare trainings and programs to improve research quality and academics competencies that will lead to improve the productivity of research in the Palestinian universities. It also recommended to increase research budget in Palestine. It also suggested that VII universities should work on their scientific research strategies. It also addresses other researcher to elaborate on this topic from different perspective due to the lack of studies in Palestine.