Evaluations: Hidden Costs, Questionable Benefits, and Superior Alternatives

Bruno S. Frey () and Margit Osterloh

CREMA Working Paper Series from Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA)

Abstract: Research evaluation is praised as the symbol of modern quality management. We claim firstly, performance evaluations in research have higher costs than normally assumed, because the evaluated persons and institutions systematically change their behavior and develop counter strategies. Moreover, intrinsic work motivation is crowded out and undesired lock-in effects take place. Secondly, the benefits of performance evaluations are questionable. Evaluations provide too little information relevant for decision-making. In addition, they lose importance due to new forms of scientific cooperation on the internet. Thirdly, there exist superior alternatives. They consist in careful selection and supportive process coaching – and then leave individuals and research institutions to direct themselves.

Keywords: Evaluation; rankings; hidden costs; multi tasking; intrinsic motivation; control theory; selection (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C44 D02 D61 D72 H52 I23 M12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec and nep-cbe
Date: Written 2006-08

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Related works:
Working Paper: Evaluations: Hidden Costs, Questionable Benefits, and Superior Alternatives (2006)
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