Abstract
How do business schools cope with multiple and sometimes conflicting institutional demands? This issue is very familiar to those working in the field but seems to have attracted less attention in research. Drawing on qualitative methods, using a multiple case study approach, this thesis therefore examines how three actor groups (senior management, faculty and professional staff), within four Grande Ecole Business Schools, interpret and respond to the external pressure of international accreditations.This is not a story of change. It is rather a snapshot in time of two leading schools which have been in the maintenance phase of triple accreditation for around 20 years, and two trailing schools which are going through an international accreditation process for the first time. This study analyses the three actor groups’ interpretations and responses to this pressure, in an environment where there are competing pressures, through the lenses of new institutional theory and resource dependence theory.
Despite however noble a cause may be, all systems are flawed, and we are in conflict with them because of this. Therefore, if we want international accreditations to deliver their potential benefits, we need to take into account the motivations and behaviours of the people who are necessary to put them in place and make them work. A better understanding of this, is my contribution to practice through this DBA HEM thesis.
| Date of Award | 24 May 2023 |
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| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
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| Supervisor | Ian Jamieson (Supervisor) & Jurgen Enders (Supervisor) |