03/24/2025
By Amy Yacus

The Department of Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Manning School of Business invites you to attend a Doctoral Dissertation proposal by Amy Yacus on “Response to Disruption and Strategic Logic Blending in Institutionally Complex Mixed Markets: The Adoption and Growth of Online Higher Education.”

Date: Monday, April 7, 2025
Time: 1 to 2:30 p.m.
Location: Virtual via Zoom link

Committee
Sunny Li Sun, Ph.D. (Dissertation Co-Chair), Associate Professor, Department of Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Manning School of Business, UMass Lowell
Yi Yang, Ph.D. (Dissertation Co-Chair), Professor, Department of Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Manning School of Business, UMass Lowell
Tao Gao, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, UMass Lowell
Jacqueline F. Moloney, Ed.D., Chancellor Emerita, Professor, School of Education, UMass Lowell

Abstract:

This dissertation draws upon institutional theory to explain why the process of disruption unfolds differently in mixed markets for public goods. Specifically, it looks at the adoption and growth of online education as a disruptive innovation by leading for-profit, nonprofit and public higher education organizations. It uses a multiple case study format with six cases across three organization types to explore whether their heterogeneous characteristics, processes, and/or logics have influenced the organizations’ responses to disruption. Additionally, it looks at external institutional pressures in higher education to understand how those have also influenced the adoption and growth of online education. Each of these organization types experience different internal and external factors that enable or constrain how they innovate and grow their market share of nontraditional adult learners. By looking at the actions taken by each type of organization to adopt and exploit their use of online education, this research provides a better understanding of mixed market dynamics and offers four theoretical propositions related to disruptive innovation, institutional logics and mixed market competition.

All interested students and faculty members are invited to attend.