“Dogsbody in the Systemâ€: A Case Study on the Identity Construction of Chinese Local University Teachers in the Situation of Performance Management

Yijian Hu, Rui Zhou, Lianyu Cai and Chun Wu

SAGE Open, 2025, vol. 15, issue 3, 21582440251383023

Abstract: Teachers are the main resources for the high-quality development of universities. The construction of teacher identity is one of the important components influencing the building of teacher team, and performance management is the fundamental institutional situation for the construction of teacher identity in universities. In terms of performance management, Chinese universities are increasingly emphasizing short-term quantitative efficiency. The marketization of performance has prompted teachers to reconsider “who I am,†as well as the challenge of identity construction. This study selected Chinese Local G University as a case to collect and analyze interview data on teacher identity construction. It is found that teacher identity construction in the situation of G University performance management is a game process of interest and belief. Teachers’ cultural identity crisis, subjective status masking, and generalization of professional identity have caused them to become “ dogsbody in the system ,†as a result of instrumental rationality’s overwhelming over the value rationality of performance institutions, the decline of rationality and binding force of the academic community, and the imbalance between teachers’ internal motivation and external behavior induction. To improve University teachers’ performance management experiences and promote their reasonable identity construction, it is necessary to optimize the performance management system and strengthen the people-oriented institutional incentives, to actively promote performance evaluation reform and substantially promote academic peer review, to pay attention to ensure health factors and optimize the salary and welfare system of teachers, and to improve the academic ecological environment and guide the professional consciousness of teachers’ beliefs.

Keywords: “dogsbody in the systemâ€; performance management; local university teachers; identity construction; case study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:sagope:v:15:y:2025:i:3:p:21582440251383023

DOI: 10.1177/21582440251383023

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