Digital transformation in higher education management: Organizational learning and IT governance

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Andreas Breiter; Dr. Ilse Hagerer
• Subject Area: Management and Marketing ; Education Systems and Educational Institutions ; Empirical Social Research
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 553292585

Digital transformation (DT) relates to far-reaching changes in all areas of society, including businesses and public administrations. New technologies, processes, and business models increase the demands on organizational learning capabilities. While higher education institutions (HEIs), as research institutions, are drivers of innovation, they often lag behind technologically in their organizational processes. According to recent studies, this is particularly the case in German HEIs. Despite extensive research on barriers to DT in teaching and learning, it remains unclear why management in German HEI acts reluctantly in overcoming barriers and adopting technology-driven changes. Our goal is to analyze DT processes in the management of German HEIs and their interrelations with organizational learning. As DT is interwoven with advances in digital technologies, it is important to understand its organizational embedding in the IT governance (ITG) of the HEI. German HEI organizations can be characterized by informal actions that play a crucial role in organizational change processes. Hence, we focus on individual perceptions, actions, and their interplay with structural changes. In the last decade, the relevance of inter-university networks has increased which can be identified as another major driver. With the example of European University Alliances (EUA), we will study external triggers on internal adjustment of processes and actions for interoperability of IT infrastructures. So, we investigate the absorptive capacity of German HEIs, i.e. their ability to cope with environmental influences and how it is reflected in individual perceptions, actions, and ITG. Inspired by March and Olsen's cycle of organizational learning, we build a theory of organizational learning for DT processes in German HEI management considering its special characteristics. Based on case studies at six German HEIs along with the qualitative analysis of expert interviews with 36 employees at different hierarchical levels in HEI management, we analyze interconnections of individual perceptions, actions, organizational processes, and structures related to ITG as well as the environmental response and influence by EUA. We create a typology of ITG at German HEIs using a nationwide survey and complementing interviews with IT managers including maturity levels and decision-making structures. We analyze environmental influences on DT processes in HEI management through interviews within six networks in which the selected HEIs are part. We contribute to organizational research by building a theory of organizational learning including types of ITG, which explains different modes of DT in German HEIs. This adds new insights to higher education research by providing new theoretical considerations to understand organizational behavior in DT processes in German HEI.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants