Organizational Identity of Universities: A Review of the Literature from 1972 to 2014

Abstract

Organizational identity provides an increasingly large number of researchers with a theoretical lens for examining current transformations of the university. The primary objective of this article is to propose an extensive, systematic overview of the literature published on the subject between 1972 and 2014. The analysis of 120 empirical studies reveals a literature which is rich but dispersed, in theoretical, epistemological and methodological terms alike; thriving since the 2000s, it is mainly US but increasingly globalised. After identifying six main research categories according to the classical distinctions found in the organizational identity literature, we propose a series of avenues for discussion bearing on the status of identity as an indicator of changes at work in the university, their level and depth, the linkage between the concepts of market and institutional field and finally, the epistemological implications of the international nature of this literature.

Comparative discourse analysis of Kazakhstani universities’ organisational identity

“…A similar trend in commercialisation was found in American (Dumay et al, 2017; Saichaie, 2011), Danish (Svendsen and Svendsen, 2018), Singaporean (Ng, 2014), Malaysian (Osman, 2008), Chinese (Teo and Ren, 2019; Zhang, 2017), Ghanaian (Akoto, 2018), Russian (Kozyreva, 2016), Peruvian (Manky and Dolores, 2021), and Pakistani (Shahnaz, 2022) universities. Despite vast research having been conducted on this topic, no study has focused on Central Asian universities.…”

“…Thus, universities compete for attention and they create a discourse of 'a battle for students' (Social Market Foundation, 2021). Consequently, many studies have demonstrated that tuition-based universities are becoming market-oriented (Askehave, 2007;Dumay et al, 2017;Mautner, 2005;Mulderrig, 2003;Ng, 2014;Saichaie, 2011), although the university discourse has been criticised for its market-oriented ways (Fairclough, 1993(Fairclough, , 2000Fairclough and Fairclough, 2018). All these studies pertain to developed countries like the USA, UK, Australia, China and Singapore; little information can be traced concerning the university discourse in developing countries of Central Asia.…”

Identity Management in an Institution of Higher Education: A Case Study Using Structural Coupling and Fractal Enterprise Model

“…Note, also, that there are a number of approaches in the literature mentioned in [9] that use similar ideas to the ones used in the approach based on structural coupling. To these, for instance, belong the Stakeholders approach [22], and Institutional logic [23].…”

“…The organization in the focus of our case study is an institution of the higher education, more exactly, a department of a university. Among the previous works related to organizational identity, there are many that are devoted to identity of a university; for instance, a literature review [9] considers 120 peer reviewed publications in this area. However, as with general literature related to identity concept, none of them suggests a system theoretical model that can be used for understanding and managing identity of the institution of higher education, such as a department, school, or faculty.…”

Effect of organizational identification on organizational innovativeness in universities and higher education institutions of Iran, mediated by risk-taking capability

“…OID and organizational identity have widely been attracted to more research interests to understand organizations and their interactions with the environment (He and Brown, 2013). Although growing numbers of studies are using the concept of organizational identity and identification to understand the current transformations of the university (Dumay et al , 2015; Stensaker, 2015), there are still considerable scopes for further advances and these offer opportunities for developing organizational identity and identification studies. For example, what is the relationship between Professors' OID with the ORTC and OINN of a university?…”