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From garbage can to legitimacy: institutionalizing crisis decisions in higher education
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DOI：10.1080/03075079.2026.2678395.png)
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Abstract
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This article analyzes how program and department heads navigated a prolonged crisis using the Garbage Can model and institutional theory. Based on 27 semi-structured interviews triangulated with regulatory and institutional documents, organized anarchy prevailed initially: ambiguous preferences, fluid participation, unclear work technologies, contingent problem solution couplings, and outcomes of oversight or flight. Later, responses stabilized through legitimacy seeking and coercive, mimetic, and normative isomorphism: routines sustained operations, reduced managerial load, and signaled alignment with the field. The contribution is a phased synthesis: the Garbage Can lens captures confusion and heightened pressure; the institutional lens acts as a quiet stabilizer that eases strain. Together, they clarify how shock-driven improvisation evolves into field-aligned consolidation, advancing understanding of crisis management in higher education. The study advances a temporal handoff account: shock-driven improvised couplings are replaced by field filtering and routinized, legitimacy-seeking scripts that regulate managerial attention.
Keywords:
Garbage can model
institutional theory
higher education
heads of department
middle academic management
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