The emergence of the entrepreneurial university: the clash of values and resistance to change

The article is a case. The aim is to identify the connection between values and resistance to organizational change among the lecturers employed at Nizhny Novgorod branch of HSE. Methodological basis of the research is concept by B. Clarke which declares formation of entrepreneurial - type culture as an important element of creating entrepreneurial university. Formation of such culture inevitably causes collision of traditional academic and new entrepreneurial values. According to our hypothesis rejection of entrepreneurial values on behalf of the lecturers is one of the reasons behind opposition to conducted changes. The research uses author’s questionnaires for evaluating resistance to organizational changes and evaluation orientation in research activities. Respondents pool consisted of 50 full-time lecturers of Department of management and economics of Nizhny Novgorod branch of HSE. Questionnaire data was statistically processed with the help of SPSS 22.0 for Windows. The research demonstrated that: 1) the most pronounced rejection on behalf of the lecturers is caused by changes in the field of management and personnel policy: it is medium and passive; 2) in terms of research activities lecturers are oriented mainly towards academic values; 3) there is a positive connection between orientation towards academic values of “motivation” and “benefit” and the degree of rejection of changes in personnel policy and management. The perspective is in broadening research base including other entrepreneurially oriented universities. Results of the research allow for recommending branch management using value management method in order to overcome lecturers’ denial. Originality of obtained results is that for the first time characteristics of change opposition and value orientation of lecturers at Russian entrepreneurial university have been changed. It has been determined that opposition of lecturers to conducted changes is related to values.