Effect of function and role of research council on the performance of Government Research Institutes: Focusing on economic and Human Society Research Council in Korea

Abstract

There has been increased requirement on the accountability and efficiency of GRIs(Government Research Institutes) in accordance with the increased investment within the limited national resources. To address these issues, each government is introducing the performance evaluation system and Korea is also trying to upgrade its evaluation system under the guidance of NSTC (National Science and Technology Committee). This study analyzes how the function and role of Economic and Human Society Research Council in terms of supporting and promoting Government Research Institutes (GRIs) have affected their performance. In specific, it considers five factors regarding function and role of the Research Council described in related laws, enforcement decrees and Articles of Association, and four performance factors based on BSC(balanced sorecard, BSC). Furthermore, the study considers the effects of control factors on the performance, including research area, size and established year of GRIs. The analysis on 95 executives and employees from 23 GRIs shows that the function and role of the Economic and Human Society Research Council has exerted significant influence on the performance of GRIs. In detail, among the characteristics of GRIs, research area and the size of GRIs have control effects on the customer performance and the performance in terms of internal process and learning efficiency, while the established year of GRIs has an impact on the internal process performance. Therefore, the results suggest that the Research Council should conduct its function and role in a tailored manner, considering research area and established year of GRIs. In conclusion, this study points out political suggestions, and discusses the direction of future studies and the limit of the study.