Examining the relationship between mission statements, strategic plans, and a college's ability to commit to long-term operating sustainability
Jackson, Quentin E. I am interested in the long-term operating sustainability of colleges and universities. I discovered that the relevant literature in this area has identified mission statements, strategic plans, continuity and information systems & technology plans as key documents used in management practices in organizations. These are types of strategic plans (Eckel, 2023) which serve as key components of operating performance that drive organizational sustainability (United States OPM, 2012). Because I am deeply engaged with document data, my chosen research method is Grounded Theory using Qualitative Document Content Analysis. According to LaiYee Ho and Alex Limpaecher (2021), Grounded Theory “is a qualitative research method that enables you to derive new theories based on the iterative (document data) collection and analysis of real-world data.” Grounded Theory is appropriate as a research methodology because Grounded Theory allowed me (as the primary researcher) to be directly engaged with my prior professional knowledge. This also allowed me to actively interpret the themes which emerged from the data collection documents (Sebastian, 2019). The alignment of the emergent themes provided the leans for which create a theoretical framework. That framework is used to establish a performance-based relationship between mission statements and strategic plans to contribute to a college’s ability to commit to long-term operating sustainability.
Education, Higher, Sustainable development, Strategic planning, Mission statements
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