Structural Autonomy and Management Performance: An Influence Reinforced in the Particular Context of Portuguese Public Secondary Schools

Carla Fontes (), Joaquim Leite and Paula Odete Fernandes
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Carla Fontes: Applied Management Research Unit (UNIAG), Instituto Politécnico de Bragança (IPB), 5300-253 Bragança, Portugal
Joaquim Leite: Department of Business and Social Sciences, School of Technology and Management, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança (IPB), 5300-253 Bragança, Portugal
Paula Odete Fernandes: Applied Management Research Unit (UNIAG), Instituto Politécnico de Bragança (IPB), 5300-253 Bragança, Portugal

Administrative Sciences, 2022, vol. 12, issue 4, 1-14

Abstract: The purpose of this research is to verify interdependencies among service innovation, structural autonomy, performance measurement systems, and organizational outcomes in a new organizational context. The relationships between these variables that structure organizational design have been studied for several decades, but it is necessary to verify the validity of those interdependencies in new geographical contexts and periods. Contingency theory was the selected framework because it argues how different scenarios can justify different organizational solutions and is appropriate in the predominant quantitative research. For data collection, surveys were sent to 526 executive heads of all Portuguese public secondary schools, obtaining 154 valid responses. Data processing was carried out using descriptive analysis, Spearman correlation, and structural equation analysis. The results reinforce previous literature, proving the influence of structural autonomy, not only on pedagogical management performance but also on resource management performance within a specific context explored for the first time in the Portuguese public sector. However, the interdependence of these variables in relation to pedagogical innovation strategy and organizational outcomes of effectiveness and efficiency was not verified in this particular setting, corroborating the basic foundations of contingency theory.

Keywords: contingency theory; structural autonomy; pedagogical management performance; resource management performance; Portuguese public secondary schools (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L M M0 M1 M10 M11 M12 M14 M15 M16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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