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The dynamics of universities’ paradoxical tensions in crisis
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DOI：10.1007/s10734-025-01585-y.png)
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Abstract
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We examine how salient paradoxical tensions faced by universities during crisis are rendered latent. Using Covid-19 as a case and employing a multiple-case study approach with qualitative data from ten universities in India, we find that the crisis brought forth three changes in the institutional environment—legitimation of online practices, emergence of a service-dominant logic, and policy steering of technology integration. We demonstrate that universities’ responses to these changes rendered salient paradoxical tensions latent, while also bringing forth second-order tensions. Building on our findings, we propose a conceptual framework integrating the relational and dynamic aspects of organisational dynamics to render salient tensions latent. Our findings contribute to higher education literature by providing a processual view of managing paradoxical tensions, highlighting the interplay between crisis-driven organisational responses and shifts in institutional norms. Additionally, our findings highlight the importance of university leaders and policymakers to learn from crisis and make universities resilient to future crisis.