ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on five Higher Education Governance theories: institutional theory, agency theory, stewardship theory, stakeholder theory, and resource-dependence theory. These theories are relevant and pertinent to higher education governance, how their application could enhance the development of governance research, and the ways in which it is useful in building the higher education governance knowledge base. Institutional theory has had a significant influence on the study of structures, processes, and activities in organizations. Agency theory is still not as widely used in higher education as it is in the corporate governance literature. Stewardship theory has its origins in psychology and sociology. Stakeholder theory helps to define influencing and influenced groups and the extent of accountability that will be recognized and discharged by an entity. Resource dependence theory has a leading and influential theory for understanding organization-environmental relations. Theories help us to organize and describe people's experiences, predict future behaviors, and create the means to control conditions that influence people's lives.
