Hybrid logics in the resource strategies of US public research universities

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Abstract
US public research universities face increasing pressures to compete in higher education, but receive fewer resources from their states than in previous eras. Prior research suggests that these institutions adopt market-driven mentalities and practices to generate revenues while eschewing their public missions. We posit that US public research universities may employ competition and profit-seeking (market mechanisms) to resource the campus as a whole and serve the broader society. As such, these institutions could potentially bend some industry-oriented principles and behaviors to bolster social goals, as reflected in their newer resource-centered organizational discourses and strategies. In this study, we apply theory of institutional logics to illuminate these discourses and strategies. The logics perspective focuses on underlying theories of action that shape organizational structures and processes. It informs, here, a qualitative document analysis of materials and longitudinal numeric data spanning 2000 to 2014 from three sampled universities. Findings suggest that the study universities amplify over time their appeals to the public good to justify market efforts. They also indicate a complex interplay among multiple logics. These blended, hybridized logics offer strategies and behaviors to reconcile conflicting organizational imperatives. We discuss prospects for research on the managerial tools used as instruments of good.

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