Research On The Institutionalization Of Academic Senate Of Research University

In the process of exploration and construction of modern university system,Academic Senate and its institutionalization are the only path for the universities to improve their internal governance structure,realize academic governance,gain organizational legitimacy and perform University functions.The research focuses on the scientific problem of "institutionalization process and influencing factors of the Academic Senate institution",and constructs an analysis framework for institutionalized process of Academic Senate,form the perspective of new institutionalism of organizational sociology.Then the research conducts four exploratory case studies:that is Chemistry Department of Zhejiang University,Law School of Zhejiang University,University of California and Northeast Normal University,the study summarizes the stage characteristics of the institutionalization process of the Academic Senate and the dynamic evolution of institutional factors.In a questionnaire survey,the study also collects 180 valid sample data to verify the key factors affecting the institutionalization of the Academic Senate institution.Finally,the dynamic mechanism of institutionalization for Academic Senate is summarized by analyzing the institutional environment and legitimacy mechanism.Through qualitative and quantitative study,theoretical analysis and empirical research,the paper draws the following main findings and conclusions:1.Summarize the stage characteristics of the institutionalization process of Academic Senate institution.The institutionalization process of the Academic Senate institution can be divided into five stages:environmental change,innovation attempt,theorization,re-institutionalization and diffusion.2.Discovered the dynamic evolution mechanism of institutional elements in the process of Academic Senate institutionalization.In the first few stages of institutionalization,the leading role of regulatory elements is to grow first and then slightly attenuate.The significant role of normative elements begins to rise in the medium term and finally gradually stabilizes.The significant role of cultural-cognitive factors has been increasing rapidly,and it has become the most significant elements of the three institutional factors in the last few stages.3.Revealed the dynamic mechanism of the Academic Senate institutionalization.The study proposes that the institutionalized dynamic mechanism of the Academic Senate is based on the legitimacy pressure generated by the institutional environment.In the institutional environment aiming at building modern universities,both academic and administrative attributes of University organizations should be taken into account by organizational actors.Also the top-down compulsory strategy and the bottom-up driving strategy should be adopted to reconstruct the legitimacy basis of the Academic Senate from the three levels of regulations,social norms and culture-cognition,so as to promote the institutionalization of the Academic Senate.4.Refined the influencing factors of the institutionalization of the Academic Senate institution.This study conducts a large sample survey and statistical analysis.The results show that the four key elements(regulatory elements,normative elements,cultural-cognitive elements,administrative intervention elements)significantly affect the acquisition of the legality of the Academic Senate institution.And the administrative intervention has a negative impact on the legality of the Academic Senate.Based on the above theoretical findings,this study proposes five policy implications as follows:1.Establishing an organizational field for the Academic Senate to guarantee the micro-system.2.Strengthening the top-level design of the National legislation and rules,in order to foster the organizational routines of the academic senate institution.3.Enhancing the role of institutional entrepreneurs.4.Creating shared values and cultural concepts for academic governance.Building the legitimacy basis of Academic Senate effectively.The research would carry out potential theoretical contributions in the following three aspects:1.The dynamic evolution pattern of institutional factors unveiled the black box of the institutionalization process of the academic senate institution.There has been little dynamic analysis on the evolution of the institutional elements for the institutionalization process.This study analyzes the evolution of the three institutional elements in different stages and then map them with a unified institutionalized analytical framework.It will provide a more intuitive and deeper understanding of the institutionalization process of the Academic Senate,as well as provide operational tools and Inspirations for subsequent similar studies.2.The proposition of institutionalized dynamic mechanism provides a direction for promoting the institutionalization of the Academic Senate.The analysis of the dynamic mechanism provides theoretical guidance for promoting the institutionalization of the Academic Senate.The legitimacy mechanism which is based on the formation of modern university institutional environment,is not only a catalyst for the transformation of university in the stage of innovation attempt,but also a dynamic mechanism throughout the whole process of organizational institutionalization.The more institutionalized the organization is,the more solid its legitimacy foundation is and the stronger its stability is.3.The refinement of the influencing factors enriches the understanding of the institutionalization process of the Academic Senate.Through the analysis of 180 valid samples,this study refines the four influencing factors of the institutionalization of the Academic Senate,namely regulation,regulation,culture-cognition and administrative intervention.The influencing factors of "administrative intervention" are generally attributed to the "culture-cognition"level in the previous research.The emergence of new influencing factors enriches our understanding of the institutionalization process of the Academic Senate and has a positive guiding for the formulation of relevant policies.