Strange bedfellows: explaining the popularity of business majors at self‐proclaimed liberal arts colleges in the USA

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between the most popular major field of degrees awarded by baccalaureate colleges in the USA and the organisational language used to identify themselves as liberal arts institutions. Informed by competing theoretical frameworks (neoinstitutional theory and strategic adaptation), two primary research questions guide this research. First, how often will business be the most popular major at baccalaureate colleges whose public rhetoric proclaims a commitment to a liberal arts and sciences education? Second, what environmental and organisational characteristics predict the popularity of business majors at these institutions? The results reveal a decoupled (inconsistent) relationship between the popularity of the business major (at 55% of the institutions) and the liberal arts identity that is a foremost component of these colleges' public self‐presentations. Multivariate analysis indicates that technical, market‐based forces predict decoupling, but the promotion of liberal arts rhetoric suggests that while colleges adapted to technical environmental pressures, they remained concerned with legitimacy. Therefore, both neoinstitutional and strategic adaptation theories were necessary to explain how and why ‘liberal arts’ colleges maintain socially acceptable accounts to justify actions of questionable institutional legitimacy.

Keywords:

• liberal arts colleges
• business majors
• neoinstitutional theory
• strategic adaptation

Notes

1. The prestige of the liberal arts claim is exemplified by its presence in the public rhetoric of the most highly ranked colleges and universities in the USA. For example, the ‘In‐Depth Description of the Colleges’ section, of Peterson's guide to four‐year colleges (Peterson's Guides 1993), includes 17 universities ranked among the top 25 National Universities and 13 colleges ranked among the top 25 National Liberal Arts Colleges (US News and World Report 1993). An examination of the organisational language of these 30 prestigious institutions reveals that 28 (93%) make liberal arts claims.

2. As noted earlier, the Carnegie classification system was revised in 2000 and again in 2005, however, for the current study I used the Carnegie categories from 1994. My decision was driven by a preference to employ Carnegie classifications that were in use at the time (1993–94) the institutional level data was collected. That said, while the revisions in 2000 and 2005 included renaming the Baccalaureate subcategories and some minor modifications in differentiating the distribution of undergraduate majors, the distinguishing criteria remains bachelor's degree majors.

3. My designation of major fields as professional or liberals arts is consistent in all categories with the Carnegie classifications (Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching 1994).