[HillRat]

I'm not sure that reputational risk is the same thing; I suspect one way to look at it is that a researcher who returns the null case is disrupting the organization by putting a lot of other peoples' work and assurances at risk. So there would be a significant amount of implicit social pressure to show results and maintain organizational harmony.

[beeftime]

having lived and worked in China for a few years, I can confirm you're dead on the money.

[794CD01]

That sounds like academia anywhere.

[finid]

Yep, publish or perish applies to academia everywhere.