新制度主義の興隆と高等教育研究：1970～2010 年 : 科学的研究の前進的プログラム

For decades, institutional theory has influenced the social sciences, including sociology of education, comparative education, organization theory, international relations, management studies and globalization, on a broad range of issues. A rejection of reductionism lies at the core of institutional theory. The behavior of actors－whether individuals, organizations or nation-states－is attributed not to the motives of that entities, but to its context to higher-order factors, under the intellectual influence of constructionism by P. Berger & T. Luckmann.
However, in spite of the growing tendency to utilize recently developed insights of institutional theory in higher education studies, the potential of institutional theory has not been fully exploited by higher education researchers. So, the purpose of this series is thus to fill this gap by reviewing the origin and development of institutional theory, and particularly American sociologist J. Meyer’s progressive team work from 1970 to 2010, a pioneer of this form of long-term research program at Stanford University.
Specifically, we reviewed several fundamental ideas, such as charter theory, organizational field theory, decoupling, and world society model to better understand of the relationship between institutional theory and the expansion/survival of higher education systems. Also, using this theoretical foundation, we performed an empirical analysis to test charter theory and estimated education certification demand function by job types, linked from institutionalized environments to technological ones.