Analysis of structural and contextual dimensions and derivation of taxonomy concerningpublic higher education institutions in Turkey

The purpose of this study is to analyze the formal organizational structure of public higher education institutions in Turkey and empirically derive their taxonomy. For this purpose, first, the relationship between structural (horizontal differentiation and administrative intensity) and contextual dimensions (size, uncertainty, power and imprinting effect) of public higher education institutions have been analyzed. Second, the taxonomy of their organizational structures has been derived to see how they cluster and vary within the taxonomy. The population of the research is formed by public higher education institutions in Turkey. Since the purpose has been to collect a ten year data from 2008 to 2017, the research sample contained 81 public higher education institutions which were founded in the year 2007 and before. This research has been conducted by using a quantitative method. To accomplish the primary purpose of this study a cross-sectional research model has been used. In this context, to investigate the relationship between the identified variables, a multiple regression analysis has been applied. To execute the secondary purpose, which was to derive taxonomy of organizational structures of public higher education institutions and show its variations within the taxonomy, a hierarchical clustering analysis method has been applied. According to the research model of the primary purpose, two main hypotheses (H1 and H2) have been tested. In line with the results of the multiple regression analysis, a strong and statistically significant relationship has been found between size, uncertainty, power and imprinting effect and horizontal differentiation (H1). Although a quite low ratio has been seen in the explanation rates that show the relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variable in the regression model, a statistically significant relationship between size, uncertainty, power and imprinting effect and administrative intensity has been observed (H2). Pertaining to the cluster analysis results, it has been viewed that public higher education institutions in Turkey have been divided into 7 clusters with regard to our sample and the selected taxonomic characters.