Digitalization attempts in higher education: the role of imprinting and the effect of business departments

In recent decades, higher education institutions (HEIs) have increasingly been exposed to a market logic that has led them to adopt structures and practices that are common in for-profit firms. In our study, we analyze how HEIs react to the increasing demands of digitalization and which factors explain the adoption of relevant structures. Based on 379 HEIs in Germany, our findings show that imprinting is of great importance for the implementation of a position for digitalization – that is, HEIs founded in a more recent phase of higher education in Germany are more likely to create a leadership position for digitalization. At the same time, we find that imprinting has no effect on the creation of more operational positions for digitalization but that the existence of a business department in HEIs has a positive effect. We discuss these findings in the context of higher education research and questions about factors influencing the adoption of practices and structures in HEIs.