The Impact of IT Management on the Efficiency of Top US Liberal Arts Colleges

This study of 41 highly ranked liberal arts colleges in the United States attempts to determine if there is any observable impact on the efficiency of the institutions relative to differing practices of information technology management in the context of a resource-based view of the colleges. The institutions are grouped into high- and low-efficiency groups according to their performance in graduating students. Five themes emerge from a review of the literature of information technology management in higher education. Ten independent variables representing IT management practices in those five areas are then compared across the two groups of high- and low-efficiency institutions. No significant difference was found between the two groups on any of the ten variables. Several potential reasons for this finding are discussed.