Higher education system governance: an exploratory study of presidential decision making in the kentucky community and technical college system

Limitations of the Study

This study involved surveying participating KCTCS presidents about the location of decision making for specified academic, administrative, and personnel decision items, interviewing participating KCTCS presidents to further explore how decision making was shared for specified academic, administrative, and personnel decision making, and reviewing relevant documents to aid in developing an understanding of presidential decision making in KCTCS. The researcher conducted this study following a period of leadership transition with the former founding KCTCS president retiring and the former

KCTCS chancellor assuming the role of the KCTCS president in January 2015. As such, the findings of this study reflect presidential decision making at the specific time at which this study was conducted. Moreover, because the findings of this study pointed to approaches to leadership as a mediating factor in how presidents share decision making, the findings of this study may change if replicated at later time.
Phase one, which involved administering a survey to consenting participants, had a 35% response rate. Phase two, which involved conducting interviews with consenting participants, had 3 participating presidents. The response rate and participation in interviews limits the generalizability of the findings to presidential decision making in KCTCS as a whole. Furthermore, the researcher collected and reviewed documents pertinent to the research questions and to aid in understanding the context of presidential decision making in KCTCS. Given the possibility that documents exist but were not readily accessible, the researcher did not review all relevant documents.
As an exploratory study, the findings do not permit classification of a specified decision making process or reflect presidential decision making in all community college systems, or at other structural levels of systems. Likewise, the findings are not applicable to decision making involving faculty, staff, or students within a system, although the findings indicated that faculty, staff, and community members were involved in various decision making process for which presidents were involved. Moreover, the academic, administrative, and personnel decision categories and corresponding decisions are not inclusive of every decision made in a system, but instead are representative of the most cited decisions in the literature.