Isomorphism of strategic orientation; A study on foundation universities

The subject of this study is to reveal how the foundation universities determine their competition strategies and to address isomorphism orientations preferred by the foundation universities as a strategic tool in order to preserve their sustainability. Organizations, which are frequently analyzed by researchers as a technical and social fact have recently been elaborated through the prism of institutional theory. According to this theory, institutionalization process is a social fact and an indispensable element of the society. The institutional theory claims that there is a similarity or analogy between the characteristics of the structures and processes of organizations and environmental features. This similarity called isomorphism plays a highly deterministic role in terms of correlating an organization with the world outside the organization. In this context, when they are faced with similar environmental challenges, organizations operating in the same line of business tend to resemble their competitors by taking a form that is in line with the expectations of the environment. This brings along the concept of isomorphism and since all organizations will display the tendency to gravitate towards similar choices after all, institutional isomorphism comes into existence. The environmental pressures which organizations are exposed to, social expectations widely acknowledged by the community, the government's arrangements or direction, the dominant methods and practices of the sector and morphological structures recognized by the environment serve as driving forces for the isomorphism of organizations. Although organizations give the impression that they are willing to increase their efficiency and enhance their competitiveness in their respective fields of business by taking the institutionalized models as an example, it is figured out that they indeed have a tendency to become isomorphic to ensure their legitimacy and improve the odds for survival. The research sample consists of 72 foundation universities. The sample is addressed under three categories based on Foundation University's year of establishment as: foundation universities founded on and before the year 2000, foundation universities founded between the years 2001 and 2010, and finally foundation universities founded between the years 2010 and 2015. The study has concluded that private universities lay the greatest emphasis on the message of "taking part in scientific studies" as part of the "Theme of Understanding on Academic Services" and the way they express their strategic orientations have so much in common particularly in this respect. Keywords: Institutional Theory, Isomorphism, Strategic Management, Foundation Universities, Strategic Orientation.