Research Policy 37 (2008) 1616–1629 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Research Policy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/respol Implications of managerial control on performance of Dutch academic (bio)medical and health research groups Inge van der Weijden a,b,∗ , Dick de Gilder b , Peter Groenewegen b , Eduard Klasen c a Rathenau Institute, Science System Assessment, P.O. Box 95366, 2509 CJ The Hague, The Netherlands b Vrije Universiteit, Department of Public Administration and Organization Science, Faculty of Social Science, De Boelelaan 1081, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands c Leiden University Medical Centre, P.O. Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands article info Article history: Received 26 August 2005 Received in revised form 2 January 2008 Accepted 15 June 2008 Available online 26 July 2008 Keywords: Managerial control Performance Academic research (Bio)medical and health research Regression analysis abstract Our paper examines the relationship between managerial control and research performance of academic groups. An understanding of the determinants of research performance is a prerequisite for designing effective micro- and macro-research policies. The paper focuses on Dutch medical and health research groups. Our paper addresses the following ques- tion: do (certain) research management activities enhance the performance of academic groups? A quantitative approach was used to gather data from research leaders in 160 groups. Correlation analysis and multivariate linear regression analysis show that several aspects of research management have a positive relationship with research performance. Furthermore, this study reveals that managerial choices of Dutch (bio)medical and health research leaders give rise to differences in performances measures. Additionally the dis- ciplinary setting is found to have an impact on relationships between managerial control and performance. The paper concludes by giving suggestions for further research as well as considering possible implications for research policy. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Group performance depends on both the capacities of individual members and the environment in which the group is embedded. Research organizations and research groups provide facilities for their members (e.g., Andrews, 1979) and an environment that may either stimulate or inhibit their performance. The importance of the group environment is emphasized by various scholars who state that research and development leaders should not assume they can simply hire good people and let the system run by itself (e.g., Allison and Long, 1990; Paollillo and Brown, 1979). Research leaders are challenged to create conditions conducive to meeting the corporate goals, such as high per- ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +31 70 3421542; fax: +31 70 3633488. E-mail address: i.vanderweijden@rathenau.nl (I. van der Weijden). formance, as well as the scientists’ need for satisfaction and motivation (Omta and de Leeuw, 1997). For example, an important consideration for research leaders managing their groups is the method used for rewarding members of staff. The first purpose of this paper is to analyze manage- rial control and to study its effects on research performance of academic biomedical and health groups. A second aim is to study the impact of the disciplinary setting in order to assess whether such effects on performance are uniform. In a survey of Dutch biomedical and health research group leaders, we focus on the relationship between man- agerial control, known contingency items, and research group performance. These three factors are rarely stud- ied together in one research design. This paper addresses the following question: do (certain) research management activities enhance the performance of academic groups? Managerial control is considered to be a composite of inter- nal and external control. The focus in this paper is on 0048-7333/$ – see front matter © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.respol.2008.06.007