Title: Comparative efficiency of California State University system by DEA

Authors: Mansik Hur; Michael H. Way

Addresses: Department of Management and Marketing, California State University, Bakersfield, 9001 Stockdale Highway, Bakersfield, CA. 93311, USA ' Department of Management and Marketing, California State University, Bakersfield, 9001 Stockdale Highway, Bakersfield, CA. 93311, USA

Abstract: This study evaluates the performance of 23 campuses of California State University (CSU) system, the largest public university system in the USA from a benchmarking perspective. Despite of shared vision and management control under one system, a substantial variability in performance outcomes across campuses has been observed. Using data envelopment analysis, this study appraises the relative efficiency of the 23 campuses by focusing on outcomes such as graduation rates and impacts of graduates on the California economy. The result shows the CSU system was roughly 79% efficient compared to the performances of the best practice campuses. It also indicates a significant difference in efficiencies among campuses at different geographical regions. Cross-efficiency analysis confirmed the findings on the overall performance ratings. After identifying benchmarking targets for each inefficient campus, the direction and amount of potential improvement are presented.

Keywords: performance evaluation; relative efficiency; benchmarking; higher education; data envelopment analysis; DEA; cross-efficiency.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSSCI.2020.113197

International Journal of Services Sciences, 2020 Vol.7 No.2, pp.100 - 118

Received: 13 Dec 2019
Accepted: 20 Feb 2020

Published online: 23 Feb 2021 *

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