RESUMO O objetivo do presente estudo é analisar se os Planos de Desenvolvimento Institucional (PDI) são documentos estratégicos ou simplesmente uma resposta à busca de legitimidade diante de pressões regulatórias. Trata-se de um estudo qualitativo, baseado em informações de 20 PDIs de universidades brasileiras, categorizadas como privadas, públicas, comunitárias e confessionais. Para analisar os PDIs, utilizou-se a metodologia de análise de conteúdo. Como resultado, descobriu-se que a maioria são documentos muito mais descritivos, com metas e planos operacionais, do que documentos com características estratégicas. Por outro lado, na maioria dos documentos analisados, evidencia-se a importância e relevância da construção de um PDI como benefício para a gestão e a organização universitária como um todo. Concluiu-se que os PDIs tendem a ser documentos que buscam dar legitimidade às universidades em relação aos atores envolvidos. Em outras palavras, eles convergem para o isomorfismo institucional. Assim, eles não são preparados e utilizados apenas devido a demandas institucionais, mas principalmente devido a imposições legais.

ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to analyze whether Institutional Development Plans (IDP) are strategic documents or simply a response to seeking legitimacy in the face of regulatory pressures. This is a qualitative study based on information from 20 IDPs of Brazilian universities, categorized as private, public, community, or confessional. To analyze the IDPs, the content analysis methodology was used. As a result, it was found that most IDPs are much more descriptive documents, with operational goals and plans, than documents with strategic characteristics. On the other hand, in most of the documents analyzed, there was evidence of the importance and relevance of constructing an IDP as a benefit for the management and the university organization as a whole. It was concluded that IDPs tend to be documents that seek to provide universities with legitimacy in relation to the actors involved. In other words, they converge towards institutional isomorphism. Thus, they are not prepared, and used only due to institutional demands, but mainly due to legal impositions.

ABSTRACT We examined how scholars decide what they study, scrutinizing researchers’ problem choice. We qualitatively analyzed a survey conducted by e-mail with 40 top management scholars on organizational decline in top-ranked journals. This topic appears to be neglected despite the real life evidence that the performance of firms is declining at an increasingly rapid pace. We conducted a content analysis of motivation to undertake, remain with, or abandon research. We found explanations for what researchers’ study specifically related to concerns over tenure and promotion, difficulty in conducting research, and the general unattractiveness of ‘negative’ themes that lead scholars to avoid a research topic. We contribute to studies on problem choice in management research by explaining why relevant economic and societal research agendas are under-researched. Our findings indicate that motivation not to undertake is related to extrinsic factors. Motivations to remain are usually intrinsic. However, motivations to abandon may be intrinsic, in order to move on to another research project, or extrinsic, depending on the situation. It also serves as a warning that scholars may be paying excessive attention to mainstream theoretical approaches and topics, inhibiting the emergence of new ideas and detracting attention from phenomena that are important for teaching.

Abstract Organizational decline is related to the deterioration of the resource base and performance of an organization for a sustained period of time. Although some studies have been conducted, it remains an understudied phenomenon, despite its importance. The study of organizational decline is faced with challenges to improving and increasing research. In this study, we analyze the scientific field of organizational decline in business and management journals with a high impact factor. We conducted a mixed-method study: a bibliometric study of a sample of 214 articles, and a qualitative study with 41 authors. We used an analysis of citations, co-citations and factor analysis. This enabled the identification of the most influential works and their conceptual approaches. The interviews with the authors were analyzed using content analysis, which complemented our understanding of the challenges and problems facing the theme. The results show that organizational decline can be organized into three different aspects: organizational decline itself; studies on turnaround; and mortality. Specific challenges to overcome are related to a better definition, cognitive issues and other issues on decision-making and specific methodological problems. In addition, it is necessary to evaluate whether theories that explain growth are also able to explain decline.