Morphology of mergers and their impact on performance and accounting metrics in HEIs: evidence from a small European country

Abstract

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to analyze the structural elements from mergers in higher education institutions (HEIs) of a small European country, Greece, and evaluate how merger morphology is related to performance criteria and ratios imposed by the Greek state. More specifically, this study provides a depiction of ten mergers of HEIs in Greece that were introduced by the state in order to absorb the previously existent thirteen technological educational institutes (TEIs) from Greek universities. The morphology of mergers is provided by examining several factors, such as: type of merger (merger by absorption or consolidation); type and number of entity involvement (two-partner or multi-partner); geographical area of newly formed HEIs (single-campus or multi-campus), with provision of number of campuses in different cities, etc. These merger characteristics are associated with the HEI performance in the post-merger era, and their performance is evaluated with public accounting metrics and funding on specific ratios imposed by the Greek state. The results provide evidence that public HEIs in Greece throughout the process of joining entities have demonstrated different levels of synergies after mergers, in terms of state funding, with better results for the case where there are campuses in three different cities. Also, this study supports that a state initiative for legislative intervention in HEI mergers could lead to different levels of synergies. Last, this study tries to provide new knowledge for the gap of economic impact of mergers’ characteristics of HEIs and offers an open framework for further research on a fruitful area.