Traditionally, universities stand for independent, high-quality, and curiosity-driven research and education. Yet, since neoliberal reforms in the 1980s, they have been increasingly exposed to external pressures towards more efficiency and economic value orientation. To manage the tasks corresponding to these market-based values, a new and fast-growing group of professional staff has emerged. Some authors argue that they challenge academic norms, or academic professional logics, while importing market norms, or market logics, through previous employment in and current relationships with the private sector. We empirically test this assumption based on original survey data of three groups of professional staff of universities and associated medical centers in the Netherlands: business developers, grant advisers, and research policy officers. We asked them about their ideas about universities to capture their institutional logics. Respondents also indicated previous employment and the strength of their professional relationships. Using multiple linear regression models, we find that professional staff with private sector experience indeed have stronger market logics. We find the same for those with stronger relationships with private sector companies. Yet, on average, the academic professional logic of professional staff is considerably higher than their market logic. Additionally, the effect of private sector experience and stronger relationships with private sector companies on the market logic is moderate. Thus, our data suggests that professional staff do not challenge academic norms. Therefore, there seems to be little need for meeting them with skepticism regarding their role in unwanted organizational change.

传统上，大学代表着独立、高质量和好奇心驱动的研究和教育。然而，自 20 世纪 80 年代新自由主义改革以来，它们越来越多地面临着提高效率和经济价值取向的外部压力。为了管理与这些基于市场的价值观相对应的任务，一批新的、快速增长的专业人员已经出现。一些作者认为，他们挑战学术规范或学术专业逻辑，同时通过以前在私营部门的就业和目前与私营部门的关系引入市场规范或市场逻辑。我们根据荷兰大学和相关医疗中心的三组专业人员的原始调查数据对这一假设进行了实证检验：业务开发人员、资助顾问和研究政策官员。我们询问了他们对大学的看法，以了解他们的制度逻辑。受访者还指出了以前的工作经历以及他们的专业关系的强度。通过多元线性回归模型，我们发现具有私营部门经验的专业人员确实具有更强的市场逻辑。我们发现，对于那些与私营部门公司关系密切的人来说，情况也是如此。但平均而言，专业人员的学术专业逻辑远高于市场逻辑。此外，私营部门的经验以及与私营部门公司更强的关系对市场逻辑的影响是温和的。因此，我们的数据表明专业人员不会挑战学术规范。因此，似乎没有必要对他们在不必要的组织变革中所扮演的角色持怀疑态度。