Abstract
Purpose – Although leaders are widely believed to employ visions, little is known about what
constitutes an “effective” vision, particularly in the higher education sector. This paper seeks to
proposes a research model for examining relationships between vision components and performance
of higher education institutions, as measured by financial stability, student satisfaction and growth,
process improvement, and learning and faculty satisfaction. The model proposes that vision attributes
of brevity, clarity, abstractness, challenge, future orientation, stability, and desirability, and vision
content relating to financial stability, student satisfaction and growth, process improvement, and
learning and faculty satisfaction can affect performance through four vision realisation variables.