To Conform or Innovate: Organizational Life Cycle of Independent Religious Schools in the Greater Toronto Area

This thesis presents the argument that private religious schools in Toronto experience competing forces of isomorphism (from their status as schools in a highly institutionalized setting) and innovation (from their position as a business in an open market environment). Assuming multiple roles as a business, non-profit, and educational institution augments the pressure they experience and forces them to search for strategies to manage the additional strain caused by conflicting forces. This mixed methods study captures interview data from senior leadership in 20 independent religious schools in the Greater Toronto Area. Findings conclude that schools follow an S-curve on an Organizational Life Cycle, which measures a schoolâ s level of establishment or legitimacy. Furthermore, schools in the study faced competing forces (or logics) of education, religion, financial sustainability, and community. Through an institutional entrepreneurship approach, schools strategically selected their location, identity, leadership, policies, social networks and new practices to improve organizational longevity.M.Ed