TY - JOUR

T1 - Can University Leaders Effectively Promote Research on Complex Societal Challenges?

T2 - A Change-Agency Perspective

AU - Kroll, Henning

AU - Schubert, Torben

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © International Association of Universities 2023.

PY - 2024/6

Y1 - 2024/6

N2 - In recent years, new expectations have been placed on universities, demanding academic contributions towards solving large-scale, interdisciplinary challenges. This is in conflict with existing insights from university governance research, which emphasises that scientific communities focus on reproducing disciplinary practices that are unsuitable in addressing societal challenges, because the problems associated with them are usually large-scale, complex and interdisciplinary. In light of this seeming paradox, we revisit the question of how—and on which theoretical grounds—universities may still be able to develop suitable internal governance mechanisms that allow them to address complex societal challenges effectively. Because university leaders are usually unable to coerce individual researchers to address such challenges in their research simply through their bureaucratic powers, we will argue that university leaders can, however, leverage individual researchers' agency to deviate from routine and disciplinary practice by developing novel or legitimising existing interdisciplinary scripts necessary to deal with such societal problems. Specifically, we outline that university managements can create a dual role consisting of the communication of legitimising interdisciplinary research on societal challenges, as well as providing for the necessary degree of interdisciplinary coordination by convening researchers around these topics.

AB - In recent years, new expectations have been placed on universities, demanding academic contributions towards solving large-scale, interdisciplinary challenges. This is in conflict with existing insights from university governance research, which emphasises that scientific communities focus on reproducing disciplinary practices that are unsuitable in addressing societal challenges, because the problems associated with them are usually large-scale, complex and interdisciplinary. In light of this seeming paradox, we revisit the question of how—and on which theoretical grounds—universities may still be able to develop suitable internal governance mechanisms that allow them to address complex societal challenges effectively. Because university leaders are usually unable to coerce individual researchers to address such challenges in their research simply through their bureaucratic powers, we will argue that university leaders can, however, leverage individual researchers' agency to deviate from routine and disciplinary practice by developing novel or legitimising existing interdisciplinary scripts necessary to deal with such societal problems. Specifically, we outline that university managements can create a dual role consisting of the communication of legitimising interdisciplinary research on societal challenges, as well as providing for the necessary degree of interdisciplinary coordination by convening researchers around these topics.

KW - Change-agency

KW - Governance

KW - Interdisciplinary

KW - Societal challenges

KW - University

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85149988248&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1057/s41307-023-00307-2

DO - 10.1057/s41307-023-00307-2

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85149988248

VL - 37

SP - 348

EP - 365

JO - Higher education policy

JF - Higher education policy

SN - 0952-8733

ER -