Factors influencing higher distance education consortium persistence

Abstract

In recent years there has been increased interest in higher education consortia, especially within distance education; however, there has been limited research which would shed light on factors influencing persistence among these entities. Research has been especially limited in determining the extent to which the alignment of a consortium’s operations with the cultural logics of the surrounding educational environment has been a persistence factor. This study engaged in a comparative case study of higher distance education consortia. The investigation entailed selecting four consortia to be studied, ascertaining the cultural logics of the consortia and the respective external educational environment and ascertaining the factors contributing to, or detracting from consortia persistence. The methodology for ascertaining the logics included document review and open-ended questions of knowledgeable agents. The data collected was analyzed for emergent themes related to organizational persistence, including alignment with cultural logics. The analysis employed several theoretical frameworks which were triangulated to determine the prominent factors influencing consortia persistence in this context.