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The Looseness of Loose Coupling: The Use and Misuse of “Loose Coupling” in Higher Education Research

Theory and Method in Higher Education Research

ISBN: 978-1-83867-842-5, eISBN: 978-1-83867-841-8

Publication date: 7 October 2019

Abstract

The term “loose coupling” has been widely employed in higher education research. Building partly on the “garbage can model” of decision-making, it proposed an alternative to rational and linear views on organizing and governing, emphasizing instead ambiguity and complexity. The review of higher education research literature presented in this chapter demonstrates that the concept of loose coupling has frequently been used as a background concept, often taken for-granted either as a point of departure for studies of organizational processes in higher education or as a diagnosis of the complexity of higher education organization that inhibits implementation of reforms. This chapter provides systematization and critical examination of how the term “loose coupling”/“loosely coupled systems” has been employed in journal articles focusing on higher education in the last 40 years. It presents a broad mapping of 209 articles and a more detailed qualitative review of 22 articles, which employed loose coupling as more than a background concept.

Keywords

Citation

Elken, M. and Vukasovic, M. (2019), "The Looseness of Loose Coupling: The Use and Misuse of “Loose Coupling” in Higher Education Research", Theory and Method in Higher Education Research (Theory and Method in Higher Education Research, Vol. 5), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 53-71. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2056-375220190000005005

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

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