Abstract
Objective: Institutions of higher education (IHE) have faced increasing
pressure to comply with federal regulations and reform their response to
campus sexual assault (CSA). This study explores whether decoupling, or
organizational resistance to change, is associated with the number and
timing of CSA reforms adopted. Participants: A web-based survey of IHE
employees familiar with sexual assault policy implementation on their
campus asked about types of reforms, timing, decoupling, and campus
characteristics. Method: Correlations and t-tests were run to examine
the types of reforms across time periods, and regression assessed the
degree to which decoupling was associated with the number and timing of
reforms. Results: Higher decoupling was associated with fewer reforms in
the early period and more in the late period, though not with the
overall number of reforms adopted. Conclusions: Findings highlight the
importance of understanding factors that influence change on campuses.