A critical rationalist approach to organizational learning: testing the theories held by managers

The common wisdom is that Popper's critical rationalism, a method aimed at knowledge validation through falsification of theories, is inadequate for managers in organizations. This study falsifies this argument in three phases: first, it specifies the obstructers that prevent the method from being employed; second, the critical rationalist method is adapted for strategic management purposes; last, the method and the hypotheses are tested via action research. Conclusions are that once the obstructers are omitted the method is applicable and effective

Building students' loyalty through superior university entities

This study expands a previous qualitative investigation of students’ experience of existing entities in higher education institutions (HEIs) of Malaysia. We specifically investigated how experience impacted students’ loyalty which eventually drove them to return to the same university for further studies. The Structural Equation Model with Partial Least Square (PLS-SEM) was done on a selected group of 200 undergraduates from these institutions. The findings illustrated the top three reasons that positively and significantly influenced their academic progression at the same university as Campus Infrastructure, Support System, and Teaching Quality. The study therefore concludes that if the average level of these three entities were good, then the level of Student Loyalty would also excel accordingly. The study highlights the need for HEIs to enhance their reputation by continuously improving and upgrading these identified entities to attract the university’s main stakeholders to come back for more quality learning experience

The use of international rankings in the formulation of a university's strategic goals : the Polish perspective

Aim/purpose - The aim of the paper is to identify key indicators from selected international rankings that might be used while formulating a university’s strategy; especially in the context of Polish higher education regulations and requirements. Design/methodology/approach - The paper is based on literature review, accompanied by qualitative-comparative analysis of the most popular international rankings of universities; comparative analysis is also applied to methodologies accommodated by these rankings and to the organization of their output. Findings - Modern universities face growing pressure from the intensifying processes of internationalization and have to search for effective methods of increasing their competitive advantages worldwide. Thus, a well-defined and implemented strategy should playa significant role in this process. Research implications/limitations - The very recent discussions concerning the proposed new Polish Law on higher education and science prove that there is still limited understanding of the importance of university strategies. The government emphasizes the significance of improving international competitiveness of Polish higher education institutions; thus, the proper use of international rankings seems to be vital in responding to governmental visions. The research findings should help universities in the development and execution of strategies. Originality/value/contribution - The paper combines analysis of international rankings and strategy development/formulation. Therefore, it might be a useful tool for the administration of Polish universities and should help in understanding of university organization

The transformation of steering and governance in Higher Education: funding and evaluation as policy instruments.

This paper focuses on policy implementation in higher education (HE) to be analysed through the evolution and transformation of the policy instruments, namely those related to the Government funding and evaluation. The research questions are: to what extent instruments can reveal the evolution of policy rationales and justifications? How instruments emerged, and become institutionalised, affecting and being affected by the characteristics of national configuration of HE systems? Whether and how they produce desired effects or evolve in unpredictable ways, generating unexpected results, playing new roles and functionalities? The evolution of the instruments seems to be dependent on some characteristics of the context and some key features of the instruments. The development has been often inspired by NPM principles, which aimed at increasing steering capacity of the policy maker on one side, and university role and autonomy on the other. The common narrative is then declined in very different ways among countries, and instruments implementation reveals the extent to which it is adapted to the existing characters (dominant paradigm) of the HE system.Higher Education, Funding, Evaluation, Policy instruments, Policy implementation

Evaluating the Impact of Technology Development Funds in Emerging Economies: Evidence from Latin-America

Evaluations of government Technology Development Funds (TDFs) in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Panama are surveyed. All the evaluations were done at the recipient (firm) level using data from innovation surveys, industrial surveys, and administrative records of the granting units, together with quasi-experimental econometric techniques to minimize the effects of any selection bias. TDF effectiveness is found to depend on the financing mechanism used, on the presence of non-financial constraints, on firm-university interaction, and on the characteristics of the target beneficiaries. Four levels of potential impact were considered: R&D input additionality, behavioural additionality, increases in innovative output, and improvements in performance. The evidence suggests that TDF do not crowd out private investment and that they positively affect R&D intensity. In addition, participation in TDF induces a more proactive attitude of beneficiary firms towards innovation activities. However, the analysis does not find much statistically significant impact on patents or new product sales and the evidence on firm performance is mixed, with positive results in terms of firm growth, but little corresponding positive impact on measures of firm productivity, possibly because the horizon over which the evaluation was conducted was too short.Innovation and R&D, Policy Evaluation

Higher education reform: getting the incentives right

This study is a joint effort by the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB) and the Center for Higher Education Policy Studies. It analyses a number of `best practices¿ where the design of financial incentives working on the system level of higher education is concerned. In Chapter 1, an overview of some of the characteristics of the Dutch higher education sector is presented. Chapter 2 is a refresher on the economics of higher education. Chapter 3 is about the Australian Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS). Chapter 4 is about tuition fees and admission policies in US universities. Chapter 5 looks at the funding of Danish universities through the so-called taximeter-model, that links funding to student performance. Chapter 6 deals with research funding in the UK university system, where research assessments exercises underlie the funding decisions. In Chapter 7 we study the impact of university-industry ties on academic research by examining the US policies on increasing knowledge transfer between universities and the private sector. Finally, Chapter 8 presents food for thought for Dutch policymakers: what lessons can be learned from our international comparison

Sustainable development practices in public higher education: A new conceptual framework for nurturing student satisfaction and reinforcing attractiveness to international students

Using a multi-layer review based on stakeholder, institutional and legitimacy theories, the current study presents and empirically analyses a novel conceptual framework addressing the relationship between sustainable development practices, internationalization and students' satisfaction in public higher education institutions. Based on participants' self-perception, a questionnaire was distributed to 738 students at seven Portuguese public higher education institutions. Structural equation modeling was utilized to estimate the multivariate causal relationships. The evidence shows that SDP are positively, directly, and significantly related to internationalization and students' satisfaction. Students' satisfaction is directly and significantly associated with internationalization, also revealing a moderating effect on the relationship between sustainable development practices and internationalization. To achieve legitimacy among their stakeholders, public higher education institutions must build an institutional commitment to sustainability by adopting and disseminating sustainable development practices with actions on a livable campus.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio