ERIC Number: EJ1407976
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0951-5224
EISSN: EISSN-1468-2273
Understanding Organizational Identity in Universities: Unravelling Autonomy, Governance and Leadership in the Case of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Higher Education Quarterly, v78 n1 p254-267 2024
This paper offers a historical analysis of organizational identity development at a particular Dutch university, the Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam. Our analysis contributes to the discussion on what factors contribute to organizational identity maintenance and evolution. Whereas the literature suggests a rather straightforward development, with national and institutional governance arrangements offering more institutional autonomy and providing significant scope for identity development and profiling, this case study shows that these relationships between identity, governance, and autonomy are not that obvious. In this particular case, the opposite happened. Despite more autonomy, VU Amsterdam was not able to maintain its historically distinctive identity, nor was it able to replace this with a new, unambiguous identity. External factors (demographics) and internal dynamics (leadership strategies) explain the anomalies.
Descriptors: Institutional Characteristics, Universities, Foreign Countries, Educational History, Institutional Autonomy, Governance, Leadership Styles, Institutional Mission
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2191/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Netherlands (Amsterdam)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A