Looking good or doing good? Define the US university's public mission by analyzing mission statements and strategic planning

被引:0
作者
Papadimitriou, Antigoni [1 ]
Schiffecker, Sarah Maria [2 ]
机构
[1] Lehigh Univ, Coll Business, Bethlehem, PA 18015 USA
[2] Texas Tech Univ, Lubbock, TX USA
关键词
Sustainable development; Universities; Social responsibility; Strategic planning; Triple bottom line; Mission statement; 3Ps; COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT; THEMATIC ANALYSIS; HIGHER-EDUCATION; SUSTAINABILITY; CHALLENGES;
D O I
10.1108/TQM-10-2022-0313
中图分类号
C93 [管理学];
学科分类号
12 ; 1201 ; 1202 ; 120202 ;
摘要
PurposeThis study aimed to find possible answers to whether U.S. universities are merely looking good or doing good regarding their third mission using elements of the triple bottom line (people, planet, prosperity) and the 2030 Agenda. Design/methodology/approachQualitative exploratory empirical study based on an in-depth analysis of publicly available documents (i.e. mission statements and strategic planning) and information from the Impact Rankings 2020 edition (webpages). The study uses a multilevel analysis to capture the parameters "looking good" and "doing good." The sample consists of 15 U.S. universities. FindingsThe findings demonstrate that universities are looking good in terms of their effort to support their third mission. Data show that all universities covered themes related to people and prosperity in their mission statements and strategic planning. However, when the authors dived into the managerial metrics, KPIs, benchmarks and other evidence to characterize them as doing good, the authors encountered some challenges in identifying evidence. The data suggest that universities most likely participated in the Impact Ranking act as "cherry pickers" and might participate in unproblematic goals for their organization. Originality/valueThe 3Ps and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals used in this study to examine the university public mission never used in other studies. The goal in this study was not to evaluate those universities in terms of looking good and doing good but rather to contribute to the gap in the literature and provide suggestions to university C-suite.
引用
收藏
页码:2551 / 2569
页数:19
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