Abstract
PurposeThe quality and market viability of international branch campuses (IBCs) depend upon their integration with university headquarters. Recent trends toward localizing branch-campus hiring have raised questions about the extent to which non-parent-campus lecturers will support global integration pursuits. This paper aims to examine IBC lecturers’ orientations towards global integration, exploring how they identify themselves and their campuses as part of their wider universities.Design/methodology/approachEmploying constructivist grounded theory methodology, 37 lecturers and leaders at four Australian branch campuses in Southeast Asia were interviewed, engaging them in semi-structured discussions of their identities and experiences. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and analyzed using NVivo in an iterative process of theory development.FindingsBranch-campus lecturers interviewed generally construct their individual and campus identities as separate from their wider universities. Barriers to branch campuses’ global integration include low organizational identification of lecturers, challenges in their relationships with headquarters colleagues and perceptions of cross-campus disparities in resources and students. Branch campuses’ organizationally separate identities are enacted in practice, fueling a self-reinforcing “Othering Loop” that could undermine these campuses’ quality and viability.Originality/valueThis research is the first emic exploration of locally-hired branch-campus lecturers’ views toward global integration. These findings provide an important corrective to the existing literature on this topic, challenging assumptions that localizing branch-campus hiring is the primary risk to integration. Multiple points of potential managerial intervention were identified, highlighting opportunities for university leaders to address contextual barriers and improve international branch campuses’ global integration while continuing current trends toward localized hiring.
Subject
Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management,Education,Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management,Education
Reference29 articles.
1. Chapman, A. and Pyvis, D. (2013), Enhancing Quality in Transnational Higher Education Experiences of Teaching and Learning in Australian Offshore Programs, Lexington Books, Lanham, MD.
2. Serving two masters’––academics’ perspectives on working at an offshore campus in Malaysia;Educational Review,2011
3. Organizational structures for international universities: implications for campus autonomy, academic freedom, collegiality, and conflict;Journal of Studies in International Education,2014
Cited by
1 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献
1. Provisional Wrap-Up and an Invitation to Continue the Academic Pathways Conversation;Redeveloping Academic Career Frameworks for Twenty-First Century Higher Education;2023