Organisational responses to regulatory pressure: A case study of a Norwegian Research University’s strategic compliance to GDPR

Abstract

This thesis study seeks to test Oliver’s (1991) theory for prediction of Strategic Responses to Institutional Processes, against the case of initial responses taken by a Norwegian research university when faced with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of European Union (EU).This thesis explores how different parts of the same organisation respond to and manage institutional pressure. It uses a case study of a Norwegian research university’s response to the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). An exploratory case study design frame was used to address the research question, and qualitative data were drawn from 10 key informants representing both administrative and operative core of the university, by utilising research techniques such as semi-structured interviews and document analysis.This thesis found that the perceptions or interpretations of GDPR as an institutional pressure differ from one organisational component to another, and the university administration feels more substantial pressures from GDPR compared to the operative core. Consequently, due to the differences in their perceptions of GDPR, two organisational components of the research university responded to GDPR differently in the empirical settings.