The complexity of defining institutional change in academia

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dc.contributor.authorCampanini Vilhena, Fernanda
dc.contributor.authorLópez Belloso, María
dc.contributor.authorSilvestre Cabrera, María
dc.date.accessioned2025-10-01T14:53:52Z
dc.date.available2025-10-01T14:53:52Z
dc.date.issued2025-06-12
dc.date.updated2025-10-01T14:53:52Z
dc.description.abstractIn recent decades, the European research and innovation landscape has shifted from addressing gender inequality by focusing on “fixing women” to prioritising “fixing the institution,” with gender equality plans (GEPs) as the primary tool for transformation. While policies have spurred initiatives across EU member states and associated countries, progress remains uneven. Existing studies often attribute the gap between policy intentions and outcomes to GEP implementation issues. This article argues, however, that the complexity of framing institutional change strategies during GEP planning and design contributes equally to this policy–practice gap. Drawing on feminist institutionalism and complexity theories, this article examines how different stakeholders receive, interpret, and reshape policy ideas surrounding institutional change. It interrogates whether there is a shared definition of institutional change among those responsible for planning and implementing GEPs and discusses the (in)consistencies in the assessment of concrete initiatives as institutional change. Empirical data derive from a case study of six European institutions implementing GEPs under the Horizon 2020 project GEARING‐Roles, complemented by interviews with representatives from other 7th Framework Programme and Horizon 2020 GEP‐implementing projects. The findings reveal significant ambiguity in how institutional change is interpreted and translated into actions, with this ambiguity manifesting both among GEP implementers and the European Commission. We conclude that clearer guidelines and more consistent assessments are necessary, alongside theory‐based and practice‐oriented definitions of institutional change, which we propose as an attempt to address this gap.en
dc.description.sponsorshipThis article has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 project GEARING‐Roles, under grant agreement 824536en
dc.identifier.citationVilhena, F. C., López Belloso, M., & Silvestre Cabrera, M. (2025). The complexity of defining institutional change in academia. Social Inclusion, 13. https://doi.org/10.17645/SI.9981
dc.identifier.doi10.17645/SI.9981
dc.identifier.eissn2183-2803
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14454/3812
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherCogitatio
dc.rights© 2025 by the author(s)
dc.subject.otherAcademic organisations
dc.subject.otherComplexity theory
dc.subject.otherEuropean research
dc.subject.otherGender equality plans
dc.subject.otherInstitutional change
dc.titleThe complexity of defining institutional change in academiaen
dc.typejournal article
dcterms.accessRightsopen access
oaire.citation.titleSocial Inclusion
oaire.citation.volume13
oaire.licenseConditionhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
oaire.versionVoR
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