Collaboration Orientation, Peer Support and the Mediating Effect of Use of E-collaboration on Research Performance and Satisfaction

This study investigates the potential components for academic research collaboration, and the factors that make it possible to achieve higher academic productivity. The components include collaboration factors and a collaboration model. We use two major collaboration factors to develop a framework for understanding the mechanisms that influence academic research collaborations: motivational factors and mediating factors. Motivational factors include self-motivation and trust whereas mediating factors are collaboration orientation and peer support. We analyze the effect for use of e-collaboration with research performance, reward, and satisfaction with e-research output. A survey of academicians was conducted, and by using the factor analysis and the structural equation model with SPSS 20 AMOS, we illustrate the possible influence of these factors on research performance and satisfaction. We discovered that both motivational and mediating factors play important roles on the success of academic research. This study offers several implications for academicians. We develop a parsimonious research model, which is related to e-collaboration in academic research. This unique model offers academicians to achieve good publication output from the research team. The motivational factor, self-motivation and trust, are important factors which has received positive impact of mediating factor collaboration orientation and peer support. Our research sheds light on the crucial factors for use of e-collaboration which offer the ultimate effect on performance and satisfaction with e-research output. Satisfaction motivates people to work more and more on the field of their interest, thereby influencing the performance of academicians. Rewards should be distributed according to performance of the individual, which will motivate the person to become more enthusiastic for his work of interest. Our evidence suggests that in understating the collaborative process, one must account for the context in which the collaboration occurs, the motivation of the collaborators, the scope and nature of the project, the roles and activities undertaken, and interpersonal processes such as trust. Researchers' motivations for engaging in collaboration were both instrumental and intrinsic.