morad rezaei dizagh

The internationalization of universities based on upstream documents, such as the 20-year vision document or the scientific roadmap, has been defined as a necessity and priority. On the other hand, organizational culture is regarded as a key factor in promoting and preventing organizational change. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate effective organizational culture components design to internationalize universities. 

This was a qualitative study, and its data was selected by a grounded theory approach and interviews with experts. Overall, semi-structured interviews were made with 23 experts selected by purposive sampling, and data collection continued until reaching saturation. In addition, data analysis was carried out by the fixed comparative analysis method, as well as open, axial, and selective coding stages.

From the perspective of experts, there are 10 components and 54 sub-components in the organizational culture of universities’ internationalization. In this regard, the main components included management and leadership, human, physical and financial resources, teachers, language, culture and values, organizational communication and interaction, educational, research and welfare services, growth and excellence of the organization, creativity and innovation, organizational structure, and students..

Organizational culture based on strategic, systemic, process, global, creative thinking between university administrators and staff capabilities in terms of cultural resilience, commitment and belonging, meritocracy, teamwork, language skills and university visibility in terms of accreditation and ranking results played an important role in the internationalization of universities.