Moving Beyond the Observable: What Distinct Values Contributed to Utah's Postsecondary Sector Changes in the United States?

Abstract

Research on higher education policy in the United States often seeks to understand commonalities across state contexts to understand broader concepts influencing decision-making. However, this minimises the importance of abstract and distinct factors impacting policy processes within a state. While researchers in other fields attribute these non-tangible characteristics to a state's culture, a similar concept has yet to emerge within the higher education policy context. By considering gaps within the literature, the current exploratory case study considers two statewide postsecondary sector changes in Utah that occurred in 2019–2020 and the distinct state-level values that were commonly influential during these processes.