Mission Statements in Universities: Readability and performance

TL;DR

This study examines the readability of university mission statements and their impact on performance, finding that factors like university age, focus, and size are more influential than mission statement readability.

Contribution

It introduces an analysis of university mission statement readability using Gunning's Fog Index and compares its influence on performance with other university characteristics.

Findings

No significant readability differences across regions or university types.

University age, focus, and size are more predictive of performance.

Readability of mission statements has limited impact on university performance.

Abstract

The mission statement(s) (MS) is one of the most-used tools for planning and management. Universities worldwide have implemented MS in their knowledge planning and management processes since the 1980s. Research studies have extensively explored the content and readability of MS and its effect on performance in firms, but their effect on public or nonprofit institutions such as universities has not been scrutinized with the same intensity. This study used Gunning's Fog Index score to determine the readability of a sample of worldwide universities' MS and two rankings, i.e., Quacquarelli Symonds World University Ranking and SCImago Institutions Rankings, to determine their effect on performance. No significant readability differences were identified in regions, size, focus, research type, age band, or status. Logistic regression (cumulative link model) results showed that variables, such as universities' age, focus, and size, have more-significant explanatory power on performance than MS readability.