Gap Analysis of Factors Affecting Smart University Competition through Importance-Performance Map Analysis of Top Technical Universities in Tehran (A Case Study of Sharif, Amirkabir, and K. N. Toosi Universities of Technology)

This study aimed to conduct a gap analysis of the factors affecting the smart university competition through the importance-performance map analysis of top technical universities in Tehran. This is an applied non-experimental cross-sectional survey, which is also classified as the mixed methods research based on the data type. In the qualitative section, the statistical population included the university professors selected through purposive sampling. The theoretical saturation was achieved with 16 participants. In the quantitative section, the statistical population included the faculty members and postgraduates of top technical universities in Tehran. The Cochran formula was employed to estimate a sample size of 350 participants who were selected through simple random sampling. The semi-structured interviews were used for data collection in the qualitative section, whereas a questionnaire was used for this purpose in the quantitative section. According to the research findings, the inclusive categories were identified as “knowledge about the status of rivals”, “strategic knowledge”, “knowledge about the market status”, “respect for clients”, “support from managers”, “smart activity”, “university infrastructure”, and “involvement of staff and faculty members”. Since the results show that all research indices are important, none of the categories are considered indifferent or wasteful, and the other factors were considered weak.