Year of Award

2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Degree Name

International Educational Leadership

Department or School/College

Phyllis J. Washington College of Education

Committee Chair

John Matt

Commitee Members

Erica Allen, Michael Owens, Michael Perry, Nicole Hunka

Keywords

Data Envelopment Analysis, Educational Resources, Global Ranking, Human Capital Efficiency Analysis, Mission Drift, Strategic Reactivity

Abstract

There has been a movement of global university rankings from the margins to the center of higher education governance. These metrics are now treated as external performance indicators in institutional strategy formation. In this dissertation an Architecture of Anxiety created by these rankings was explored, specifically examining how ranking volatility functions as a signal of environmental uncertainty and resource risk. To bypass the Transparency Barrier inherent in global financial data, given the effects of internal political considerations on data reporting, a human-capital-centered approach was adopted. By utilizing academic staff full-time equivalents (FTE) as the primary analytical input, universities were reframed in this research as human-capital organizations whose strategic choices were visible in staffing deployment patterns.

A two-phase sequential quantitative design was employed as the methodology: multivariate regression to model the relationship between historical volatility and current global standing, followed by Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to construct separate efficiency frontiers for research-salient and mission-oriented outputs. Grounded in an integrated framework of Resource Dependency Theory and Institutional Theory, there was confirmation that ranking volatility was a significant driver of "Strategic Reactivity", the reconfiguration of staff effort toward ranking-visible research. It was demonstrated that institutions facing higher volatility prioritize Research Efficiency (publications and citations) while experiencing a measurable decline in Mission Efficiency related to degree production and global access. This divergence was quantified as "Mission Drift," an efficiency gap where research gains occur at the structural expense of broader educational mandates. This dissertation was used to identify Strategic Isomorphism, as volatile institutions converge toward a singular, research-intensive world-class archetype to secure external legitimacy.

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© Copyright 2026 Sukanya Kemp