My research agenda is focused on understanding the behaviors of colleges and universities and, in particular, how they engage with and respond to their environments. In my research I seek to leverage novel data and methodological approaches, in combination with organizational theories, to answer novel questions that are fundamental to understanding how higher education organizations function within our society. In so doing I am able to illuminate how these organizations react, often in different ways, to their external environments and also how they in turn shape their environments through these reactions and their other practices. My research within this agenda is organized around three critical features of these institutions: their governance, organizational practices, and structures. All three of these are all fundamental aspects of colleges and universities that shape how they function and the conditions for those within these institutions (e.g., faculty, students, and staff).
I am currently engaged in a number of research projects within these three areas. In the area of governance I am currently working to assess the ways in which external environments and stakeholders influence presidential turnover. In the area of organizational practices I am looking at university finances and also how universities create partnerships with external organizations. In the area of structures my research is currently focused on understanding how academic structures shift at striving universities as they become successful strivers by switiching Carnegie Classifications.
PUBLICATIONS (* Denotes graduate student co-author)
Barringer, S. N. & Riffe, K. A. (2022) “Philanthropy at elite research universities: The role of trustees and trustee-affiliated organizations.” Philanthropy & Education. 5(2): 31-55. (Link)
Barringer, S. N. & Pryor, K. N.* (2022) “Understanding Academic Structure: Variation, Stability and Change at the Center of the Modern Research University.” Review of Higher Education. 45(3): 365-408. (Link)
Barringer, S. N., Taylor, B. J., Riffe, K., & Slaughter, S. (2022, online first 2020) “How University Leaders Shape Boundaries and Behaviors: An Empirical Examination of Trustee Involvement at Elite US Research Universities.” Higher Education Policy. 35: 102-132. (Link)
Pryor, K. N.* & Barringer, S. N. (2022) “Reaffirming or Challenging Boundaries? Exploring Hybrid Academic Units in Modern Research University Hierarchies.” Innovative Higher Education. 47(1): 45-72. (Link)
Riffe, K. A. and Barringer, S. N. (2021) “The Intersection of Institutional and Worker Hierarchies: Understanding Factors Related to Non-Instructional Staff Salaries Over Time.” Review of Higher Education. 44(4):447-492. (Link)
Barringer, S. N., Leahey, E., & Salazar, K.* (2020) “What catalyzes research universities to commit to interdisciplinary research?.” Research in Higher Education. 61: 679-705. (Link)
McClure, K., Barringer, S. N., & Brown, J. (2020) “Privatization as the “new normal” in higher education: Synthesizing literature and reinvigorating research through a multilevel framework.” Higher Education Handbook for Theory and Research. 35: 589-666. (Link)
Leahey, E. & Barringer, S. N. (2020) “Universities’ commitment to interdisciplinary research: To what end?” Research Policy. 49(2): 103910. (Link)
Barringer, S. N., Taylor, B. J., and Slaughter, S. (2019) “Trustees in turbulent times: External affiliations and stratification among US research universities, 1975-2015.” The Journal of Higher Education. (Link)
Leahey, E., Barringer, S. N., & Ring-Ramirez, M. (2019) “Universities’ structural commitment to interdisciplinary research.” Scientometrics.118(3): 891-919. (Link)
Barringer, S. N. & Jaquette, O. (2018) “The Moving Missions of Community Colleges: An Examination of Degree Granting Profiles Over Time.” Community College Review. (Link)
Taylor, B. J., Barringer, S. N., & Warshaw, J. B. (2018) “Affiliated Nonprofit Organizations: Strategic action and research universities.” The Journal of Higher Education. 89(4): 422-452. (Link)
Barringer, S. N. & Riffe, K. A. (2018) “Not just figureheads: Trustees as Microfoundations of higher education institutions” Innovative Higher Education. 43(3): 155-170. (Link)
Barringer, S. N. (2016). The changing finances of public higher education organizations: Diversity, change and discontinuity. Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 46, 223-263. (Link)
Barringer, S. N., & Slaughter, S. (2016). University trustees and the entrepreneurial university: Inner circles, interlocks, and exchanges. In S. Slaughter & B. J. Taylor (Eds.), Higher Education, Stratification, and Workforce Development: Competitive Advantage in Europe, the US, and Canada (pp. 151-171): Springer. (Link)
Slaughter, S., Thomas, S. L., Johnson, D., & Barringer, S. N. (2014). Institutional conflict of interest: The role of interlocking directorates in the scientific relationships between universities and the corporate sector. The Journal of Higher Education, 85(1), 1-35. (Link)
Barringer, S. N., Eliason, S. R., & Leahey, E. (2013). A history of causal analysis in the social sciences. In S. L. Morgan (Ed.), Handbook of Causal Analysis for Social Research (pp. 9-26). New York: Springer. (Link)
Galaskiewicz, J., & Barringer, S. N. (2012). Social enterprises and social categories. In B. Gidron & Y. Hasenfeld (Eds.), Social Enterprises: An Organizational Perspective (pp. 47-70). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. (PDF)