Organizational Culture and Effectiveness in Higher Education: A Test of the “Culture Type” and “Strong Culture” Hypotheses

Abstract

Two of the more promising lines of inquiry in efforts to understand the hypothesized linkage between organizational culture and effectiveness have focused on the differential effectiveness of organizations depending on their dominant culture type and their culture strength. The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether these two lines of inquiry operate in an independent or conditional manner in explaining the hypothesized linkage between organizational culture and the performance of a sample of four-year colleges and universities. The findings provide support for both lines of inquiry, albeit not entirely in a manner suggested by their respective proponents. For example, while culture type has a decidedly stronger independent effect on institutional performance than culture strength, the differences are clearly more pronounced on campuses with “strong” rather than “weak” cultures. The implications of these findings for research on and efforts to improve the performance of colleges and universities are discussed.