Theories relating higher education institutions to their environment refer to various conceptual frameworks and perspectives that seek to explain the relationship between higher education institutions and their surrounding contexts. These theories consider the social, political, economic, and cultural factors that shape and influence the development and functioning of higher education institutions. The section discusses resource dependence, and institutional theories of higher education institutions. 

To explain what the theories imply about how higher education institutions interact with their environments, the learner will have an overview of dependence theory and institutional theory. Two interactive videos are required to comprehend these theories and how they are essential in the higher education system and reforms. Following it will be an assessment activity to identify how these theories are part of the system in the Vietnamese context. 

Resource dependence theory focuses on how organizations acquire and manage resources, such as funding and personnel. In higher education, this means that colleges and universities must work to secure funding from government sources, private donors, and tuition revenue and must manage their resources efficiently to achieve their goals. This theory emphasizes the importance of understanding how institutions navigate their external environments to secure necessary resources for their operations.

The analyses here from the United States perspective provide cohesive information about this theory and its implication- funding and decreasing numbers of high school graduates highlight the need for public higher education institutions to develop a strategic plan to address the budget crisis, including finding alternative sources of revenue, reducing costs, and increasing efficiency. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of addressing the underlying factors contributing to the decline in high school graduates and state funding to ensure the long-term sustainability of public higher education institutions.

(Read more in Bennett and Law, 2020)

The institutional theory of higher education shape  institutions as social structures influenced by the norms, values, and expectations of their wider social environment. This theory highlights the importance of understanding the institutional logic and practices that shape higher education institutions. In higher education, this means that colleges and universities are influenced by the expectations of their stakeholders, such as students, faculty, staff, and government officials.

This article discusses the organizational theory and organizational diversity, which seeks to explain variation among organizations in structure and behavior. The article challenges the conventional idea that organizational theory focuses on explaining variation rather than homogeneity. 

(Read more in DiMaggio and Powell, 1983)

Which models relate to your day-to-day experiences and observations? Why is it important? Understand what’s going around them and why.

Hanson, M. (2001). Institutional theory and educational change. Educational Administration Quarterly, 37(5), 637-661.

This article integrates three key segments of the research literature (organizational memory, organizational learning, and institutional theory) into an overall conceptual framework.

Tolbert, P. S. (1985). Institutional environments and resource dependence: Sources of administrative structure in institutions of higher education. Administrative Science Quarterly, 1-13.

Tolbert combines two theoretical perspectives to explain the pattern of administrative offices in public and private higher education institutions;  resource dependence, and perspective, institutionalization. 

Bennett, C., & Law, M. (2020). Theoretical model for applying agency and resource dependency to public higher education. Research in Higher Education Journal, 39.

Cai, Y. and Mehari, Y. (2015). The use of institutional theory in higher education research. Theory and Method in Higher Education Research (Vol. 1), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp. 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2056-375220150000001001. 

DiMaggio, P. J., & Powell, W. W. (1983). The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 147-160.

Suddaby, R. (2010). Challenges for institutional theory. Journal of Management Inquiry, 19(1), 14-20.

Thornton, P. H., & Ocasio, W. (2008). Institutional logics. The Sage handbook of organizational institutionalism, 840(2008), 99-128.

Tina Dacin, M., Goodstein, J., & Richard Scott, W. (2002). Institutional theory and institutional change: Introduction to the special research forum. Academy of Management Journal, 45(1), 45-56.