| Transparency is described as a multifaceted construct with three qualities (i.e., information disclosure, participation, and accountability) relating to trust, communication, and ethics. Expectations for organizational transparency in higher education have grown in the past two decades. Yet, there have been few studies that investigate this concept in higher education. Using exploratory factor analyses and t-tests for independent samples, this study (a) examined the degree to which the model of organizational transparency proposed by Rawlins (2008) and tested in healthcare, is consistent in higher education and across different types institutions (i.e., public vs. private), (b) developed a scoring key and instructions for Rawlins' transparency instrument, which adds pragmatic value to the instrument, and (c) compared full-time faculty perceptions of organizational transparency in the two types of institutions. The results from 407 faculty responses revealed that (a) derived latent constructs in higher education were aligned with those identified in the original setting, (b) inter-item agreement differences were identified across factors, and (c) faculty in private institutions reported higher overall transparency scores than faculty in public institutions, although the effect size was small. The study results extend the body of knowledge related to organizational transparency in a new setting and the stakeholder literature by empirically measuring faculty perceptions of organizational transparency in higher education. In addition, the development of the scoring key may be valuable for administrators and leaders attempting to identify institutional strengths and weaknesses relevant to their transparency efforts and reputation. |
