An Analysis of Voluntary Disclosure of Performance Indicators by Canadian Universities

Managing by performance indicators (PIs) is an important and controversial issue for many stakeholders concerned with higher education in the university systems all over the world. This study analyzes the voluntary disclosures of PIs by Canadian universities. The sample consisted of the 44 universities used by Maclean's Canadian Universities ranking, which divide the universities into Primarily Undergraduate, Comprehensive, and Medical‐Doctoral. We were able to identify 123 PIs which were regrouped in 18 categories. The top two categories were disclosures about research and finance which are not surprising since research and the financing thereof appear to be the mission of most universities. The larger universities in the Medical‐Doctoral category appear to engage in a much higher level of disclosure of PIs than the Comprehensive and Primarily Undergraduate categories. According to our results, voluntary disclosure of PIs is positively affected by university size and mission. These results seem to be consistent with disclosure theories, particularly political cost theory and legitimacy theory and with previous results in the corporate sector. They are relevant to different stakeholders concerned with higher education.