Purpose: The purpose of this study is to propose a model of knowledge legitimation in organizational learning focusing on the relationship between power politics and legitimacy. Design/methodology/approach: This study adopts the approach of a conceptual discussion. Findings: This study developed an organizational learning model that explains how…

In this conceptual paper, we aim to revisit key research themes in contemporary organizational institutionalism and by doing this, redirect attention of scholars in public administration towards the most promising domains of application of institutional theory. We propose to shift attention from enabling and power-induced framing of institutional…

This essay discusses the utilization of safeguard strategies, particularly Improvement Science principles, in the academic and professional writing of scholar-practitioners within EdD programs. These strategies bridge the gap between theory and practice, enabling graduate students to apply their scholarly insights meaningfully. The essay…

The use of Improvement Science (IS) for the dissertation in practice (DiP) must be encouraged because the questions and concerns addressed in these projects go beyond answering basic research. Authors of dissertations in practice will bring philosophical assumptions, select research designs, and situate themselves somewhere along the practitioner…

This qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological study describes the lived experiences of school leaders who worked through the processes of school mergers in New York State. The central research question that guided the study was: What are the lived experiences of school leaders who worked through the processes of a school merger? In addition,…

Purpose: Although grounded theory (GT) was introduced in 1967, GT remains widely misunderstood as scholars incorporate a limited spectrum of the GT techniques and fail to integrate GT's full potential into academic research. The purpose of this article is, therefore, to discuss divergences between four GT strategies and by doing so to provide…

Purpose: Follett's relational process theory illuminates key aspects of interdependence among organizations in the field of education that are essential to fostering capacities for interorganizational resilience. The article argues for the necessity of developing mutualism in systems of education as essential preparation for times of instability…

Improvement and action-oriented research approaches make iterative testing to learn about systems and adaptive change a central practice. As the need to develop the field's capacity to improve grows, so does the need to develop leaders' capacity for leading and conducting iterative cycles of testing. The present study reveals how EdD candidates…

Professional staff occupy an essential role in universities, and yet they have received little attention in the existing French literature, despite the considerable changes afoot in academic institutions. Based on qualitative research consisting primarily of 43 semi-structured interviews, this article looks at representations of development…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze and map the terrain of human resource management (HRM) in higher education (HE) contexts, with the aim of uncovering potential gaps within the existing knowledge base. Design/methodology/approach: This study employs a unique, in-depth bibliometric analysis of 945 publications from the Web of Science…

Purpose: The article asserts that systems thinking and its concurrent organizational processes are central organizing structures in schools, yet "hide in plain sight" and are therefore underexplored and underutilized in leadership theorizing. Design/methodology/approach: By exploring the theoretical literature concerning school…

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the implications of applying critical realism to the study of organizational learning. It considers critical realism as an alternate theoretical science foundation to the domains of empirical realism and social constructivism that characterize most of the field of organizational learning.…

The changing educational landscape requires new organizational frameworks to understand how schools and universities make sense of and respond to broader institutional forces like accountability, diversity, and the market. In this article, we draw on recent innovations in organizational theory to propose a model that identifies two general…

Improvement science enables researchers to focus on a theory of change in structures and processes in classroom practices. This improvement science intervention was designed to reorient practitioners toward new instructional norms that promote discourse between teacher-students and student-student during instruction. The purpose of this research…

Background: As more education practitioners adopt techniques of improvement science to address problems of practice, there is an increasing demand for leaders with the knowledge and capacity to lead improvement efforts. However, little research explores how school leaders learn to lead improvement science in their school context or the challenges…