| Three qualitative case studies examine the administrative decision making activities of universities operating in the environment of regulatory uncertainty introduced by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Administrative decision making, for purposes of this study, is defined as the choice activities of trustees, presidents, chief financial officers and general counsels. In interviews, these decision makers share their views of the legislation and describe the process used by their institution to respond to the financial and governance reforms identified by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. While the research does identify the reforms selected by each university, the study's primary purpose is to understand the elements of the higher education decision process. Paradigms, including Rational Choice/Bounded Rationality, Bureaucratic, Power and Politics, Avoidance, Incrementalism and the Garbage Can, are used to organize the decision literature of the last several decades. These cognitive frames help interpret the actions taken and explore how decision theory may be applied to administrative decision making in higher education. |
