Implementation of risk management in the Australian public university sector: Insights from a collective action model of institutional innovation

Abstract

Australian public universities are experiencing a change towards a corporate culture. This change process involves the adoption of a range of corporate control processes to facilitate effective governance. This study examines the extent to which one of these processes, risk management, is adopted under an environment of change management. The study draws on a collective action model of institutional innovation as the theoretical framework and utilizes a qualitative research methodology to analyse the extent of the adoption of this process. The findings confirm the theoretical propositions of the model and illustrates that specific actors in the sector frame issues, mobilize collective actions, and engage in contested processes in order to achieve different outcomes in the implementation of risk management. The study has provided insights into these different outcomes and suggests that an important causal factor is the different levels of impact of an organization’s wider influencing forces on the governance paradigm and consequently the various drivers and owners of the process. The study identified these different wider influencing forces and provides avenues for further research to test the theoretical proposition that universities need to recognize these wider influencing forces within their governance framework and address them to minimize tensions or conflicts in developing and implementing its governance processes.