Exploring academics' societal engagement patterns amid knowledge-based competitions in East Asia: evidence from the APIKS survey
基于日本、韩国和台湾的APIKS调查数据，分析了知识竞争环境下学者社会参与模式的差异及其影响因素，发现个人特征、制度框架和学者价值观共同塑造了参与模式，并揭示了性别、学科和合同类型带来的结构性不平等。
In East Asia, intensified knowledge-based competition has elevated the role of higher education in socio-economic development, prompting governments to strengthen the third pillar of university mission for innovation, sustainable development, and national competitiveness. This governmental emphasis encourages academics to expand their outreach activities toward a broader and diverse societal engagement. Meanwhile, the heightened performance-based funding and personnel schemes exacerbate the competition for resources and positions among academics, which prioritize research over societal engagement. The competing institutional logics consistently shape academics' identities, values, and work patterns. This study examines societal engagement of academics in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan within this competitive landscape. Utilizing secondary data from the Academic Profession in the Knowledge-Based Society (APIKS) survey, this study employs Kruskal Wallis H tests, robust Tobit regression and robust OLS regression models to analyze the variance in academics' societal engagement patterns and the associated factors, mediated by academics' values. The findings reveal significant differences in societal engagement patterns of academics, driven by individual characteristics and institutional frameworks, and mediated primarily by academics' perceived social and economic impact of ASE. Additionally, notable disparities are identified by gender, discipline, and contract type, highlighting structural inequities and varying motivations for engagement. These insights into the expanding academic work offer valuable implications for policymakers and academic leaders to develop strategies that promote equitable and effective academics' societal engagement within competition-based arrangements.