The root causes of bias in talent evaluation system and governance strategies

Authors

Sifeng LIU, 1. School of Management, Northwestern Polytechnic University, Xi’an 710072, China; 2. Center for Grey Systems and Innovation and Development of Sanhang Equipment, Northwestern Polytechnic University, Xi’an 710072, ChinaFollow
Wei TANG, 1. School of Management, Northwestern Polytechnic University, Xi’an 710072, China; 2. Center for Grey Systems and Innovation and Development of Sanhang Equipment, Northwestern Polytechnic University, Xi’an 710072, China
Dejin SONG, 1. School of Management, Northwestern Polytechnic University, Xi’an 710072, China; 2. Center for Grey Systems and Innovation and Development of Sanhang Equipment, Northwestern Polytechnic University, Xi’an 710072, China

Keywords

talent evaluation, research output value, markers, representation, thesis worship, bias, governance strategy

Abstract

The relationship between talent evaluation and research output value evaluation is analyzed in this paper. Combining the insights of many experts, the main problems in the current talent evaluation orientation have been identified. A deep analysis of the root causes of biases in talent evaluation reveals that the emphasis on explicit indicators such as papers, projects, and awards, rather than assessing the ‘true value’ of research output, has led to a very serious worship of international ‘top’ journal papers. This, in turn, has caused research efforts to shift from being ‘practical’ to being ‘superficial. ’ The concept of ‘markers’ and its representation for evaluating the value of research output was first proposed, and the basic conditions that ‘markers’ should meet were identified. A preliminary analysis of the ‘markers’ and its representation for evaluating the value of research output for several types of talents was conducted. Based on the study, the authors put forward countermeasures and suggestions to completely reverse the orientation of talent evaluation and make talent evaluation on the correct track of ‘innovation ability, quality, effectiveness and contribution orientation’ specified by the CPC Central Committee. The specific measures are to comprehensively reform the items, contents and presentation formats of representative achievements in the recommendations, declarations or nominations of national talents, projects, awards, etc. ,take away the firewood from under the cauldron so as to break the dilemma that the ‘siwei’ is hard to be broken.

DOI

10. 16315 / j. stm. 2024. 06. 007

Recommended Citation

LIU, Sifeng; TANG, Wei; and SONG, Dejin (2024) "The root causes of bias in talent evaluation system and governance strategies," Journal of Science and Technology Management: Vol. 26: Iss. 6, Article 1.
DOI: 10. 16315 / j. stm. 2024. 06. 007
Available at: https://jstm.researchcommons.org/journal/vol26/iss6/1