In the name of internationalization: Varied organizational actorhood of universities in the global higher education arena

Drawing on neo-institutional theories, this study explores how universities engage in internationalization as organizational actors embedded in national and global contexts. Using a mixed-method approach and based on a sample of 500 universities across 89 countries, we analyze how a country’s global competitiveness and liberal tendencies shape the ways its universities organize structures and activities around internationalization, particularly amid today’s intensified global competition among countries and universities and the resurgence of illiberalism. Our quantitative analyses show that national competitiveness is positively associated with internationalization activities, whereas national liberalism is positively associated with internationalization structures. Additionally, our qualitative analyses reveal variations in how universities motivate and emphasize different aspects of internationalization across the continuum of national competitiveness and liberalism. Together, our findings extend neo-institutionalist research by highlighting distinct aspects of organizational actorhood and the heterogeneity demonstrated across contexts.