HYPOTHESIS AND THEORY article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Higher Education
How Performance-Based Allocation within a University-College Dual-Level Administrative System Shapes the Effectiveness of Compensation Incentives in Secondary College
Ningbo University, Ningbo, China
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Abstract
This study examines how performance-based allocation within secondary colleges influences compensation incentive effectiveness, using longitudinal data (2016-2024) from a local university. It further tests the moderating role of pay distribution disparities. Results indicate that higher performance pay levels correlate with lower incentive effectiveness, as compensation tends to concentrate among few faculty, leaving the majority with averaged salaries. The proportion of self-generated revenue has a significant positive impact on incentive effectiveness, indicating that encouraging secondary colleges to expand their income sources can help mitigate imbalances in performance allocation. Additional analyses reveal that the Gini coefficient of unit-level pay distribution significantly moderates the relationship between performance allocation characteristics and incentive effectiveness, confirming the robustness and validity of the proposed model.
Summary
Keywords
compensation incentive effectiveness, distribution disparity, Internal governance, performance allocation characteristics, Secondary college
Received
19 December 2025
Accepted
19 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Yanping and Ye. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Wei Yanping
Disclaimer
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