DO STAKEHOLDERS MATTER? A STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODEL FOR EXPLAINING STAKEHOLDERS' EFFECTS ON HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS' INTERNATIONALIZATION

This paper aims at contributing to a better understanding of the role higher education stakeholders play for higher education institutions' (HEI) internationalisation. Our contribution is based on a quantitative analysis of the perceptions of HEI's international offices coordinators on different stakeholders' importance and influence regarding internationalization development, including the rationales for internationalisation, strategies to set it up and the benefits obtained from it. Data was collected through a questionnaire sent to the coordinators of the international offices of HEI in Portugal, Brazil and The Netherlands and was quantitatively analysed based on the assumptions of a descriptive-correlational research. Moreover, a structural equation model was estimated to explain stakeholders' importance effects on HEI internationalisation. Overall it was possible to conclude that the higher the perceived importance of stakeholders for HEI internationalisation, the higher the benefits resulting from internationalisation. Finally, the estimated model allowed proposing an empirically based definition for the stakeholders' concept in the context of HEI internationalisation. It is expected that the discussion undertaken in this paper will contribute to inform higher education institutions decision making and practices regarding internationalisation. At least to our knowledge, this is the first study regarding the influence of stakeholders on higher education institutions' internationalisation that is empirically based on a quantitative approach, namely structural equation modelling.