Understanding the salary gap between academic faculty and top administrators: a New Public Management perspective

ABSTRACT

Do university administrators receive significantly higher remuneration than faculty members? Can the adoption of New Public Management (NPM) principles in higher education governance contribute to a more equitable allocation of resources? This study aims to address these questions by examining a sample of Russian public universities from 2018–2021. The analysis focuses on the salary gap between university administrators, specifically rectors and vice-rectors, and faculty members. The study explores both institutional and leader-related factors that contribute to this salary gap. While NPM proposes the implementation of incentive contracts and control mechanisms to enhance organisational performance, the findings indicate that the salary gap is more pronounced in research-oriented universities. These results suggest that top-level managers are rewarded for the exceptional performance of faculty members, which contributes to an increasing income disparity that may adversely affect perceptions of fairness within higher education organisations.

KEYWORDS:

• Incentive contracts
• higher education
• New Public Management
• salary gap
• university administration
• Russia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data is available on OSF.

Supplementary materials

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2024.2357122

Notes

1. In this study, the terms ‘university leader’ and ‘rector’ are used interchangeably to refer to the highest-ranking university administrator. The term ‘vice-rector’ is used to describe an individual who holds a position of high authority within the university and is responsible for specific areas of university governance, such as academic affairs or science. Additionally, a vice-rector may also deputise for the university manager when necessary.

2. It should be highlighted that this dataset includes only a limited number of public universities that are subordinate to the Ministry of Science and Education. It does not cover a significant number of other universities that are subordinate to different Ministries. Furthermore, while no available documents state how salaries are calculated, the general assumption is that bonuses are not included in the data because the decree states that bonuses are provided separately.

3. An adjustment was performed using the following formula for each year, taking 2018 as an example: Adjusted value for 2018 = (Consumer Price Index in 2021/Consumer Price Index in 2018) * Absolute salary in roubles in 2018. This formula allows the inflation-adjusted salary values to be calculated, considering changes in the consumer price index over time. By applying this formula, the salary values for each year can be adjusted to reflect changes in purchasing power due to inflation.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation under [Grant Number 21-78-10102].

Notes on contributors

Daria Gerashchenko

Daria Gerashchenko is a junior researcher at the Centre for Institutional Analysis of Science and Education, European University at St. Petersburg. She holds an MA in Public Policy (Central European University) and an MSc in Russian Politics and Society (Kings College London). Her main research interests lie in the field of Russian Politics and Public Policy.