Continuity and change in stakeholder regimes: reflections on methods and methodology

Abstract

For many years, universities have been regarded as operating isolated from their socioeconomic and political environment. However, there is now a demand for universities to verify their relevance to society. This paper develops the research design for my dissertation, which focuses on continuity and change in stakeholder influence within Norwegian higher education institutions during the past 40 years. The paper elaborates on stakeholder regimes as means to study norms and structures for stakeholder influence over time. Historical institutionalism is explored as a method for explaining continuity and change – abrupt as well as incremental. Furthermore, methodological issues such as comparative case study design, policy tracing and document analysis are discussed.