Leadership at an Entrepreneurial University: How Department Heads Manage Multiple Logics at a Scandinavian University

Abstract

Entrepreneurial universities are important drivers of technology, innovation, and economic development from which both universities and the society at large will benefit. University leaders may, however, need to manage conflicting demands posed by multiple logics in their everyday work. Drawing on interviews with university leaders at an elite Scandinavian university faculty, this paper explores how leaders balance competing logics in their everyday work so as to achieve the goals of entrepreneurial universities. The analysis of the interviews identifies mechanisms through which leaders enact different institutional logics through their practices, and how these mechanisms lead to the achievement of outcomes related to entrepreneurial activities. These findings contribute to the literature on individual-level challenges and means to align the teaching, research and entrepreneurial missions of entrepreneurial universities.