Moderating Influence of Organizational Characteristics on Strategic Planning Process and Performance Linkage

Abstract

In spite of the numerous benefits of strategic planning enumerated in the literature, some institutions appear to be struggling with maintaining expected performance standards. Some researchers allude this to the absence of effective strategic planning systems, or the plan itself. Others believe it is attitudinal – misconceptions about the role of contextual factors. This study has therefore considered the moderating influence of such factors (organizational characteristics – age, size, and structure) on the relationship between strategic planning process and performance. It focused on accredited private institutions that had some form of strategic planning systems in place, and had operated for at least five (5) academic years. Strategic planning committee members of such institutions provided data that were descriptively and empirically analyzed. The binary logistic regression analysis indicated that only institutional size and structure do significantly influence the strategic planning process toward enhanced performance. The age of an institution did not have any significant moderating influence. It has been suggested that higher degrees of formality shall enhance performance where there is insistence on attention to detail due to increased institutional size.

Keywords: strategic planning, process, organizational characteristics, formality, moderators, contextual factors