Predicting mobility and research performance of the faculty members in the economics departments at Turkish public universities

Abstract Academic mobility is an important factor that shapes academic institutions. Research performance is correlated with many factors, including the past research performance and gender of the academic. Understanding the factors behind academic mobility and research performance may provide a guide for a better higher education policy. In this paper, we analyze the mobility, publication, and research grant performance of all faculty members who taught in economics departments at Turkish public universities in 2010. Women, older faculty, and those who work in more established universities or in three major cities are less likely to move. The faculty members who have better past research performance, and who hold foreign PhDs, publish more. However, contrary to most of the literature, we do not find any gender productivity differentials. Last, we find that past publication performance is positively correlated with the number of current research grants, although past research grant performance does not have a significant correlation with the number of current publications.