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Field Emergence from Diverse Origins: History, Heterogeneity, and the Evolution of UK Business Schools

Lookup NU author(s): Professor Charles HarveyORCiD, Dr Mhairi MacLean, Professor Tom McGovernORCiD

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Abstract

This article revisits the view that UK business schools emerged as late and imitative responses to American models. Drawing on archival evidence and a longitudinal dataset of 130 institutions, it shows that the field developed incrementally from diverse origins, including mechanics' institutes, civic universities, colleges of commerce, and polytechnics. Using a field-theoretic lens, the study traces for phases of development - emergence, status elevation, convergence, and stratified expansion - to explain how coherence formed without institutional homogeneity. It identifies three mechanisms underpinning field emergence from diversity: symbolic alignment, structural integration, and integrated stratification. The analysis shows that hierarchy was constitutive of field formation rather than a later outcome of competition, and that historical legacies continue to shape legitimacy, research capacity, and market position. The article advances organizational field theory by showing how coherent fields can emerge from heterogenous origins, while highlighting history as a strategic resource in contemporary business education.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Harvey C, Maclean M, McGovern T

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: British Journal of Management

Year: 2026

Pages: epub ahead of print

Online publication date: 02/08/2026

Acceptance date: 30/06/2026

Date deposited: 03/08/2026

ISSN (print): 1045-3172

ISSN (electronic): 1467-8551

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.70099

DOI: 10.1111/1467-8551.70099

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