Research in Higher Education, Vol. 44, No. 6, December 2003 ( 2003) POSITING ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS AS A SECOND-ORDER CONSTRUCT IN HONG KONG HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS Paula Kwan* , † and Allan Walker** ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: The study examines the relative importance of the various organizational effective- ness dimensions in higher education institutions by positing organizational effective- ness as a second-order construct. Based on the findings of a survey administered to university academics in Hong Kong universities, the second-order structure of organi- zational effectiveness was supported. The findings reflected that the student-related dimensions were not considered as important as the dimensions related to faculty employment and satisfaction and suggested the disproportionate influence of the governing body on universities in Hong Kong. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: KEY WORDS: organizational effectiveness; second-order construct; higher education re- search. INTRODUCTION Given that governments in many parts of the world have become increasingly determined to make higher education more accountable to the taxpayer, the quest for effectiveness is a pressing concern for many universities (Johnes and Taylor, 1990). However, the question of how to define organizational effective- ness in such institutions is complicated by the nature of the organizations them- selves; they are very different from profit-driven organizations. As noted by Cameron and Whetten (1983), the loosely coupled nature of higher educational institutions and the lack of precise effectiveness indicators for success make the evaluation of effectiveness difficult. Most of the literature in this area provides little more than theoretical deliberation on the topic. One major exception to this is the model developed by Cameron (1978), in which organizational effec- tiveness was reflected in nine dimensions—four relate to students and five to *Division of Commerce, City University of Hong Kong, HKSAR, China. **Department of Educational Administration and Policy, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. †Address correspondence to: Paula Kwan, Division of Commerce, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong, HKSAR, China. E-mail: cmpkwan@cityu.edu.hk 705 0361-0365/03/1200-0705/0  2003 Human Sciences Press, Inc.