ABSTRACT
Few themes in the study of human afffairs are as enduring as the origins and functions of public institutions. Classic perspectives including those pertaining to collective action, the division of labour, and Weber’s bureaucratic model of organization (Weber 1934) have been complimented by more modern economic and behavioural theories of the firm (Cyert & March 2006) and assorted theories of the political economy of organizations (Wamsley & Zald 1973). All of these perspectives, and many more, are united by a common recognition that society requires public institutions. And yet today, in practice, there are few examples of industries that are purely public (Wilson 1989). Accordingly, to account for the dynamic influences of economic, social, and political forces that shape so-called ‘public’ institutions, today’s scholars and institutional designers rely on contingent frameworks including those related to publicness (Bozeman 1987; Talmage et al. 2018, forthcoming), public-private hybrid organizations (Emmert & Crow 1988; Koppell 2010), and public-private partnerships (Girth et al. 2012; Warner & Hefetz 2008). With this background, the logic of ‘academic enterprise’ proposed here recognizes the practical and theoretical significance of the dynamic and changing nature of public higher education.
