Identifying Obstacles and Challenges in Implementation of Strategic Planning in the Higher Education System and its Effect on Organizational Innovation

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the obstacles and challenges to implementation of strategic planning in the higher education system and its effect on organizational innovation.Methodology: The present study was applied in terms of purpose and integrated (qualitative-quantitative) in terms of implementation method. The population of the qualitative department included academic experts in the fields of planning in Khorasan Razavi province in the academic year 2019-2020, 30 of whom were selected as a sample by purposive sampling method according to the principle of theoretical saturation. In the quantitative part, the study population consisted of all presidents and deputies of universities of Khorasan Razavi Province in the academic year 2019- 2020 (N = 320), among whom 175 individuals were selected as the sample using Cochran’s sample size formula and simple random sampling. The research tool in the qualitative part of the interview and its validity was obtained with content validity and reliability with coding agreement coefficient. The data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire called obstacles to Strategic Planning, Bryson’s Strategic Planning Implementation Scale (2010), and Organizational Innovation Inventory of Esmail (2002). The face validity of all the tools was confirmed, and their reliability was also confirmed with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of 0.93, 0.91, and 0.94, respectively. Qualitative data analysis was used using content analysis method and in the quantitative part descriptive statistics were used with Spss26 software and confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling was used in Smart pls24 software.Findings: obstacles and challenges to strategic planning were categorized into 5 main categories (including individual, organizational, environmental, planning, and managerial obstacles) and were 50 indicators. The results also showed that the challenges and challenges of strategic planning in the implementation of effective strategic planning (t = 25.39) and the coefficient with the path coefficient (-0.74) and the implementation of strategic planning of organizational innovation have a significant effect (t = 48.81) and با It had a path coefficient (0.84).Conclusion: Higher education authorities must pay special attention to different intra- and extra-organizational obstacles to properly implement strategic educational plans, and thereby foster various innovations.