IMPLEMENTATION OF INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE IN STAFF MOTIVATION IN UKRAINIAN UNIVERSITIES

Abstract

Staff motivation is essential to retaining qualified employees, maintaining teaching quality, and supporting research in Ukrainian universities. Under resource constraints, effective human resource policies require a combination of financial and non-financial incentives adapted to employees’ professional responsibilities. This study aims to develop an approach to implementing international staff motivation practices in Ukrainian universities. Its object is university human resource management, while its subject is motivation instruments and the conditions for adapting them to academic and research staff. The methodology combines self-determination theory with systemic, comparative, and structural-functional approaches and an analysis of scientific publications and institutional documents. The evidence base includes published studies of teaching motivation involving 1,671 faculty members and research motivation involving 1,846 faculty members from 19 United States universities, alongside international materials on remuneration and professional development. The study compares Dutch practices for recognising diverse academic contributions, British approaches to researcher development, and European principles of academic assessment. The analysis indicates that motivation instruments differ in their target employee groups, funding arrangements, and legal settings; their implementation in Ukraine therefore requires selective institutional adaptation rather than direct transfer. An original adaptive model is proposed, integrating five components: fair remuneration, recognition of academic contributions, professional development, academic and organisational autonomy, and a supportive working environment. Its implementation involves diagnosing staff needs, piloting selected measures, and evaluating outcomes through indicators of staff retention, working conditions, and professional activity. The model can support the revision of university human resource policies in accordance with institutional resources and the needs of different employee groups. Because the proposed approach has not been piloted in Ukrainian universities, its effectiveness requires further empirical validation.