The power in managing numbers: changing interdependencies and the rise of ranking expertise

As rankings have become increasingly institutionalized in higher education, so too have the strategic responses adopted by universities to address them. A key component of these responses is the development of new expertise, embodied in personnel and organizational units, dedicated to managing quant...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Higher education 2023-10, Vol.86 (4), p.771-790
Main Authors: Chun, Hyunsik, Sauder, Michael
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accountability
Achievement Rating
Colleges & universities
Departments
Education
Educational aspects
Evaluation
Expertise
Experts
Foreign Countries
Higher Education
Institutional change
Management
Organizational Change
Organizational environment
Qualitative research
Ranking and selection (Statistics)
Rankings
Ratings & rankings
South Korea
Transformation
Universities
Universities and colleges
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Summary:As rankings have become increasingly institutionalized in higher education, so too have the strategic responses adopted by universities to address them. A key component of these responses is the development of new expertise, embodied in personnel and organizational units, dedicated to managing quantitative assessments. We draw on a qualitative study of rankings management departments in South Korea to investigate the effects of these new actors in the field of higher education. We find that the rise of new expertise in rankings has reshaped key interdependencies both within universities and between universities and external constituents. This transformation has helped rankings management departments effectively challenge existing work routines and introduce new organizational practices. More generally, this work builds on theories of micro-level institutional change, identifying new mechanisms through which local actors effect lasting alterations in the organizational environment.
ISSN:0018-1560
1573-174X
DOI:10.1007/s10734-022-00823-x