The portrayal of academic production culture in a performance-oriented university

In this study, the relationship between academic production culture and performance orientation in universities is examined and in this context, ethnographic field study which is one of the qualitative research designs has been conducted. The main purpose of the research is to describe the academic production culture experienced by young academics in the environment of performative universities. In the field research, participatory and non-participatory observations were used and young academics who were affected by this performance-oriented climate during their post-graduate education within the framework of academic incentive practices are consisted of the focal point of our research. In the observations, the researcher has been in an environment where academics keep their daily routines, interactions and rituals and has taken a part in their lives. The researcher has examined how they perform their academic production activities which are inherent parts of academic work and has also explored the way they think about academic production within the framework of performance orientation by taking part in their environment. In the analysis of the ethnographic field study, the titles from the literature were used through the findings obtained. In this context, the data were interpreted by open and axial coding. MAXQDA 12 qualitative data analysis software was used to analyze the data. The components of performance orientation were mirrored through the participants, the criteria for assignment to research assistant, performance criteria for reassignment, academic incentive allowance, conference benefits, decrease in the quality of publications, quantity orientation in journal publishing and conferences, journey and incentive oriented conferences, and traces of performance orientation has been revealed. As a result of the observations, it is realized that scientific studies are carried out not only for their fundamental scientific purposes but also they are performed as tools for career advancement. Therefore, it could be said that the young academics that are examined in this study were directed to make a choice between the competitive, entrepreneurial and market-oriented model and the science for science model. In this context, it might be said that performance orientation is highly effective over academics and academic culture is also shaped within this direction. As a result, academic production culture shapes the identities of academics and these identities are formed by the effects of academics' world views, their perceptions of academy, the financial and academic circumstances of universities and the macro-institutional structures such as state, law and regulations.