Doctoral Dissertation: Processes of Legitimation: The University of Phoenix and Its Institutional Environments

在过去的四分之一个世纪里，凤凰城大学已成为高等教育的领先营利性提供者。它已经取得了合法性，尽管出现和行为不同于其他领先的高等教育组织，不符合许多规则，价值观，以及如何一个合法的高等教育组织应该看起来和行动的想法。本论文旨在回答有关凤凰城大学的起源和发展的四个问题。每个问题都是组织合法性的案例研究，并侧重于合法化的具体过程：（1）中北部协会的认证过程;（2）在美国四个州获得许可证的过程;（3）首次公开募股的认证过程;以及（4）美国教育部的两次审计调查过程。由于研究问题是“如何”和“为什么”的问题，所采用的方法将是一个多嵌入式的案例研究，使用历史和文献证据辅以访谈数据。一个拟议的阶段过程模型的组织合法化将适用于每一个案例，以及作为一个整体的组织的历史。拟议的论文项目的主要目标是调查（一）监管，道德规范，和文化认知的组织合法性的相互作用;（B）的组织符合和不符合规定的制度模式的动态;（三）在高等教育的组织领域的多个制度逻辑的轮廓;和（四）合法化过程的历史和背景的性质。更广泛地说，拟议的研究将作出重要贡献的高等教育组织的社会学理解，特别强调那些有组织的营利性。更好地了解营利性高等教育组织将为教育管理中的辩论和决策以及国家，州和地方各级的政策制定提供信息。

In the past quarter-century the University of Phoenix has become the leading for-profit provider of higher education. It has achieved legitimacy despite appearing and behaving differently from other leading higher education organizations, and without conforming to many of the rules, values, and ideas of how a legitimate higher education organization should look and act. The proposed dissertation research seeks to answer four questions about the origins and development of the University of Phoenix. Each question is a case study in organizational legitimacy and focuses on specific processes of legitimation: (1) the process of accreditation by the North Central Association; (2) the process of obtaining a license in four US states; (3) the process of being certified for an initial public stock offering; and (4) the process of two audit investigations by the US Department of Education. Because the research questions are "how" and "why" questions, the method employed will be a multiple embedded case study, using historical and documentary evidence supplemented by interview data. A proposed stage-process model of organizational legitimation will be applied to each case, as well as to the history of the organization as a whole. The primary objectives of the proposed dissertation project are to investigate (a) the interplay of regulatory, moral-normative, and cultural-cognitive organizational legitimacies; (b) the dynamics of organizational conformity and nonconformity to prescribed institutional models; (c) the contours of multiple institutional logics in the organizational field of higher education; and (d) the historical and contextual nature of legitimation processes. More broadly, the proposed research will make important contributions to the sociological understanding of higher education organizations, with a particular emphasis on those that are organized for-profit. A better understanding of for-profit higher education organizations will inform debates and decisions in educational administration, and policy set at the national, state, and local levels.