Universities around the world are facing increasing pressure to perform well in rankings, and rankings results have been shown to impact institutional reputation, ability to secure funding, and recruitment of students and faculty. Faculty research productivity is one of the main factors impacting rankings performance, and the aim of this project was to identify the factors of importance to faculty research productivity at a top-ranked university. Findings from 113 surveys and nine interviews with faculty at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) revealed a set of knowledge, motivation, and organization assets that supported research productivity at the University. Knowledge assets identified were up-to-date knowledge of developments in their academic fields, knowledge to generate new research ideas, and knowledge of the required steps to publish peer-reviewed research articles. Motivation assets identified were faculty valuing publishing research, having interest in research, and being self-efficacious at producing research publications. Organization assets identified were the presence of clear expectations and goals, and effective performance incentives to encourage faculty research productivity. A set of recommendations were proposed to reinforce these assets and to address identified weaknesses, supported by an integrated implementation and evaluation package. Institutions aspiring to improve their research productivity and rankings performance can benchmark themselves against these factors and practices, and adapt the recommendations and implementation to suit their institutional contexts. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]