DEVELOPMENT OF A MODEL FOR ENHANCING FACULTY MEMBERS' RESEARCH PERFORMANCE IN SHANDONG PROVINCE, CHINA

This study integrates the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and Social Capital Theory to develop and validate a theoretical model clarifying how academic research stress influences faculty research performance in resource-constrained, market-oriented private universities in Shandong Province, China. Adopting a mixed-methods design, we surveyed 326 full-time faculty from eight institutions (analysed via SmartPLS 4 for structural equation modelling) and implemented a four-month intervention experiment with 15 faculty members. Results show that research stress, attitude, subjective norms, and cognitive social capital positively predict research intention, which boosts performance; notably, stress exerts a direct positive effect on performance (aligning with non-Western challenge-hindrance stress frameworks), and cognitive social capital is the strongest performance predictor. The intervention confirmed the model’s efficacy, improving key constructs and actual research output. This study extends TPB’s cross-cultural applicability by embedding social capital in the stress-performance nexus, offers context-specific strategies for resource-constrained private higher education globally, and provides cross-regional insights to optimize faculty research productivity for better alignment between higher education and regional talent supply and socioeconomic synergy.