Importance of stakeholders and key performance indicators in campus management

Campus managers need to balance the competing claims of different stakeholders of higher education institutions (HEIs). Previous studies in general management have indicated that the decision-making processes are highly related to stakeholders’ attributes (power, legitimacy and urgency). However, such studies have not yet been conducted in the field of campus management. Therefore, this paper aims to identify the importance of key stakeholders in campus development and relevant key performance indicators (KPIs) that are essential for decision- makers in determining and explaining how their efforts are progressing towards achieving various stakeholders’ goals. To explore the underlying importance of campus stakeholders, a theory on stakeholder salience and a questionnaire survey among Polish public HEIs were employed. In turn, to identify various KPIs, the content analysis of institutions’ strategies was conducted. Empirical research suggests that in Polish public HEIs, authorities and academic staff continue to be regarded as the most important stakeholders (at different stages of the building’s life cycle, respectively). This contrasts with the growing market-oriented approach seen in higher education globally. Moreover, the KPIs presented in HEIs’ strategies are predominantly result-focused and rarely user-centric (which have begun to be perceived as the most significant with respect to building performance).