Shifting Logics and Performance Measurement Practices in Hybrid Universities

Abstract

This paper contributes to the current debate on the shifting logics and performance measurement practices in hybrid universities. It draws upon notions of neo-institutional theory and adopts a longitudinal and ethnographic case study methodology based on participant observations and several interviews. The study focuses on the case of Kozminski University, a private and independent non-profit business school whose brand is recognized at home and internationally. Findings show that universities and academic workers, particularly their business and academic logics, are constrained by various factors related to the specific field and the local society. These factors include the burden of government regulations and control of the state (i.e., state logic), the expectations of different clients (i.e., students, enterprises, government agencies), and the need to comply with international standards and market mechanisms (i.e., market logic). Our results show that multiple logics shape the performance measurement practices of universities and generate hybrid solutions. While previous literature has mainly focused on competing logics and the possible tensions they generate when expectations/pressures are divergent, this paper has also shown that potentially conflicting logics may ‘peacefully’ coexist in a university context.

Keywords: hybrid organisations, higher education sector, performance measurement, institutional logics, Poland

JEL Classification: M4, M40, M49