Evaluations: Hidden Costs, Questionable Benefits, and Superior Alternatives

Bruno Frey and Margit Osterloh

No 302, IEW - Working Papers from Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich

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 taskng; 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)
Date: 2006-09
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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