State Higher Education Governing Agencies and the Knowledge Brokering Process: Investigating Their Role as Multi-Facing Organizations in the United States

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Description

State higher education governing agencies in the United States are uniquely positioned
between the state government and public postsecondary sector. However, few studies
have considered how this organizational characteristic influences these agencies’ role in
the policy process. The current study seeks to contribute to this gap in the literature by
investigating the use of information in the policy process and the potential role of
statewide agencies as knowledge brokers. Through an examination of the state higher
education governing agencies in Georgia, Tennessee, and Texas, findings highlight the
influence of these organizations’ multi-facing position on the supply and demand of
information regarding statewide college completion-related policies. Grounded by
principal–agent theory, this analysis also contributes an emergent conceptual framework
of the information flow process around state-level higher education policymaking in the
United States.