Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of institutional pressures on the decision to implement (or not) quality assurance in the private higher education sector, specifically private business schools which do not receive any type of public funding.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology for this study is qualitative. The data collection method consisted of a semi-structured interview conducted with the Deans of nine business schools that were purposively selected. Content analysis using Nvivo11 is used to extract themes and draw conclusions.

Findings

The findings show that the implementation of quality assurance is driven by mimetic and normative pressures while coercive pressure seems to have a minor effect. “Decoupling”, the ceremonial practice of quality assurance, was also detected.

Research limitations/implications

The research was conducted in the Lebanese context which holds unique political and sectarian issues.

Practical implications

The results of the study may be a source of information for policymakers and other stakeholders to understand the factors behind the delay or the complete non-responsiveness to the implementation of quality assurance.

Originality/value

The study provides a theoretical and empirical contribution to the existing literature on responsiveness to quality assurance implementation in a higher education institutional context. It offers practical recommendations on increasing responsiveness in other words reducing non-responsiveness on the part of business schools.

中文翻译：

---

对质量保证实施的响应性：制度理论的视角

目的

本文的目的是调查机构压力对在私立高等教育部门（尤其是没有得到任何公共资助的私立商学院）实施（或不实施）质量保证的决定中的影响。

设计/方法/方法

这项研究的方法是定性的。数据收集方法包括与有意选择的九所商学院院长进行的半结构化访谈。使用Nvivo11进行内容分析可提取主题并得出结论。

发现

研究结果表明，质量保证的实施是由模拟压力和规范压力驱动的，而强制压力似乎影响较小。还发现了“脱钩”，即质量保证的惯例。

研究局限/意义

这项研究是在黎巴嫩的情况下进行的，它具有独特的政治和宗派问题。

实际影响

研究的结果可能是决策者和其他利益相关者了解延误或对质量保证实施完全无反应的背后因素的信息来源。

创意/价值

该研究为现有文献提供了理论和经验上的贡献，这些文献涉及在高等教育机构环境中对质量保证实施的响应能力。它提供了有关提高响应能力的实用建议，换句话说，是减少商学院的无响应能力。