Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

Fall 11-4-2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

November 2025

Department

Management Programs

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Siri Terjesen

Abstract

Universities face mounting fiscal pressures from declining state appropriations, enrollment volatility, and growing competition. In response, many have turned to tuition-driven revenue programs to sustain operations, revealing enduring tensions between academic and market logics - the competing value systems that shape legitimacy, financial sustainability, and mission fulfillment. While institutional theory has examined these dynamics at macro levels, less is known about how leaders interpret and reconcile them in practice.

This qualitative study, grounded in the institutional logics perspective, explores how higher education administrators navigate academic and market logics when developing and managing tuition-driven academic programs. Using a grounded theory design, sixteen semi-structured interviews with deans, associate provosts, and senior administrators were analyzed through iterative coding and constant comparison to identify recurring processes of negotiation and alignment.

Findings reveal that leaders experience institutional complexity as both a constraint and a catalyst for innovation. Rather than choosing between academic and market imperatives, administrators engage in alignment work that integrates both. Three interconnected processes define this work: framing entrepreneurial activity as mission-aligned stewardship, collaborating across boundaries to foster legitimacy, and adapting governance and budgeting systems to balance flexibility and accountability.

The study extends institutional logics theory by illuminating the micro-level practices through which leaders reconcile competing logics and offers a framework for designing governance structures and financial strategies that promote adaptability without compromising academic integrity. Ultimately, innovation in higher education emerges not from replacing academic values with market rationality but from integrating them to sustain institutional purpose in a changing environment.

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