The Myth of the Altruistic University: Lessons From Universities’ Sponsoring of Events

Abstract

Universities are hybrid organizations, which increasingly embark in entrepreneurial activities as a means of achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs). These include outreach and community engagement activities such as sponsoring cultural or sporting events. With our conceptual expository argument, taking a multi-theoretical approach, we contribute to the event management and social entrepreneurship literatures by examining how and why universities engage in UNSDGs-oriented events. This is important as little is known about how they contribute to the UNSDGs and use events. We question the altruistic assumption underpinning their engagement. Informed by institutional theory and strategic management value-based literature, we explore why they have taken this route and suggest self-interest rather than altruism is driving their decisions to engage in social entrepreneurship. They are value-creating strategies. We argue it is serendipity that many interpret universities’ social entrepreneurship decisions and the events that flow from them as acts of altruism.

The MOOC Post-Mortem: Bibliometric and Systematic Analyses of Research on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), 2009 to 2022

“…These courses cost a lot of money to produce (Hollands & Tirthali, 2014), but offered little in the way of direct benefits. Universities were not completely self-sacrificial as they may have hoped for indirect benefits through an enhancement of reputation, being seen to be socially responsible, or increasing their impact with their communities (Ambrosini et al, 2023). However, when the pandemic arrived and many universities faced a financial crisis, such altruistic activity could not be supported.…”