Doctoral Dissertation Research: Market Logic in Higher Education

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In the past decade, significant attention has been afforded to the market-based behavior of for-profit universities. This project considers which organizations choose to pursue this logic. This study poses questions at both the organizational and individual level. First, the macro query of "How and why did particular organizations give greater attention to a market-based strategy of higher education?" is considered. Then, at the individual level, "What effects or consequences did changes in attention to market pressures have on individuals within the organizations and how did they navigate the organizational change?" This dissertation makes significant intellectual contributions. Higher education researchers have primarily given attention to revenue streams available to large state or elite universities with the research or philanthropic means to secure market types of funding. In contrast, this study examines the college or university that has one dominant source of revenue: student enrollments. More specifically, the project shifts the focus of the study of colleges from belief systems to behavior and highlights how the institutional logic of belief interacts with other organizational logics, such as the market, state, or professions.To answer these questions, this research employs a comparative case study design that examines data across eight institutions. This project relies on publicly available data such as course catalogs, alumni magazines, and IPEDS financial data, as well as employee interviews. This project focuses on important developments that continue to unfold in American education and American society - the rapid expansion of market logic. It contributes to the understanding of organizational responses to market pressures, a phenomenon that applies to almost every organization. Given that this study focuses on the dependence of broad access schools and their reliance on tuition revenue, it will offer important insights into financing of higher education, including investment of individual resources as well as the financial aid programs.