Reconfiguring data governance in cross-border alliances: Institutional pressures and the shift from decentralized to centralized models

Abstract

Cross-border higher education alliances implementing micro-credentials face significant challenges in coordinating data governance across diverse institutional and regulatory contexts. While prior research has examined governance frameworks and compliance mechanisms, limited attention has been given to how data governance arrangements evolve in multi-organizational settings over time. This study adopts a process-oriented perspective to examine how data governance evolves within a European higher education alliance and how institutional pressures shape shifts from decentralized to centralized governance. Drawing on institutional theory and a qualitative case study, we analyze how regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive pressures erode the viability of decentralized governance arrangements, prompting their reconfiguration. The findings show that decentralized governance, while initially aligned with institutional autonomy, becomes increasingly difficult to sustain under competing pressures for standardization, interoperability, and regulatory compliance. In response, a move toward centralized governance unfolds, which enhances legitimacy and coordination but introduces new tensions related to local practices and regulatory diversity. These tensions, in turn, generate ongoing adjustments, highlighting governance as a dynamic and continuously evolving process rather than a static design choice. This study contributes to institutional theory by demonstrating how governance arrangements evolve in inter-organizational contexts under overlapping pressures. It further contributes to data governance research by advancing a process-based understanding of how alliances reconfigure governance in response to shifting institutional demands.