Chinese universities face increasing challenges in higher education, demanding effective governance and adaptable institutional structures to navigate financial constraints, demographic shifts, and innovation needs. Governance capability, encompassing strategic decision-making, resource allocation, and stakeholder response, is crucial for long-term viability. Chinese universities have employed various governance models, but their effectiveness in contemporary contexts requires empirical investigation. This study introduces a three-dimensional analytical framework examining the influence of time, space, and quantity on governance processes. The time dimension considers the historical evolution of governance structures and their adaptability to change. The space dimension acknowledges the unique contextual factors influencing governance in diverse institutional settings across China. The quantity dimension investigates the relationship between institutional size, resource allocation, and governance effectiveness. These dimensions are moderated by responsiveness, coordination, expansion, and organizational conformance. The study's primary objective is to determine whether institutional arrangements can enhance university governance capacity, contributing to sustained growth and development. This framework provides a multidimensional perspective, integrating temporal, spatial, and quantitative factors to offer a more comprehensive understanding of governance dynamics than previous models, and specifically addresses whether institutional arrangements can influence university governance capacity.

Existing literature on university governance draws upon institutional theory, resource dependency theory, and stakeholder theory. Institutional theory highlights the embedding of governance structures within sector norms and cultural practices, illustrating how historical and social conditions shape governance approaches and vary across nations. Resource dependency theory emphasizes the influence of external resource needs on university governance models and their autonomy. Stakeholder theory underscores the complexity of balancing competing interests among various stakeholders in university governance. However, this paper critiques the limitations of prior research that either views universities as monolithic entities or dissects them into independent components, neglecting the interconnectedness of internal institutions. The authors identify two main research perspectives in the literature: a quantitative perspective focusing on streamlining the number of internal institutions and a power perspective examining power dynamics within university structures. Both approaches, however, fail to address practical governance problems, prompting this study's novel approach focusing on governance elements.

This study employs a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative analysis to investigate the relationship between university institutional structure and governance capacity. A self-developed "University Governance Capacity Questionnaire" was used to collect data. The questionnaire, initially consisting of 40 items, was refined through a rigorous process of item analysis, testing for normality, variance, item-total correlations, extreme group differences, and factor loadings, culminating in a final instrument with 32 items categorized into three dimensions: time, space, and quantity. Data were collected through a multi-stage survey using the "Questionnaire network" platform, with 1,491 initial responses. After rigorous data cleaning procedures to ensure authenticity (excluding incomplete responses, those with identical answers, and those exhibiting patterned responses), 742 valid responses were retained, representing a 49.77% effective recovery rate. The sample comprised faculty and staff from higher education institutions across 30 provinces in China, representing a diverse range of institutional affiliations, administrative positions, and professional titles. Reliability and validity of the questionnaire were assessed using Cronbach's alpha, split-half reliability, McDonald's omega, Pearson correlation analysis, and the average variance extracted (AVE). Harman's single-factor test and confirmatory factor analysis were employed to mitigate common method bias. A high-dimensional fixed-effects model was constructed to analyze the influence of institutional layout on university governance capability, incorporating control variables for work experience, administrative position, and professional title. The model also accounts for individual, institutional type, departmental, and identity fixed effects. A threshold regression model was then used to investigate the non-linear relationship between the length of work experience and the impact of institutional layout on governance capability.

The high-dimensional fixed-effects model analysis reveals that institutional layouts across the three dimensions (time, space, and quantity) significantly and positively impact governance capabilities. Specifically, a well-structured institutional arrangement in the time dimension, which facilitates the timely grasp of information, trend analysis, policy evaluation, and timely adjustments, demonstrates a significant positive impact on governance capacity. Similarly, an organizational structure that enhances the flexibility and reduces the dispersion of governance elements in the spatial dimension shows a significant positive effect on university governance capabilities. This highlights the importance of aggregating and integrating resources effectively. In the quantity dimension, overcoming the scarcity of governance elements, through resource exploration and expansion, also significantly and positively influences governance capability. The findings demonstrate that effectively utilizing transformation and expansion as approaches to address resource idleness and scarcity significantly optimizes resource allocation and maximizes governance effectiveness. The study further explores the moderating effects of responsiveness, coordination, expansion, and organizational conformity on the relationship between institutional layout and governance capability. The interaction terms between the three dimensions of institutional layout and the four moderators prove significant, confirming that these moderators mediate the effects of institutional structure on governance capacity. Furthermore, the heterogeneity analysis reveals that the impact of institutional layout varies across different types of universities. Specifically, affiliated universities under the Ministry of Education, other ministries, or provincial/municipal levels exhibit different responses to organizational adjustments. A threshold regression analysis reveals non-linear relationships between work experience and the impact of institutional layout on governance capacity. In the time dimension, governance capacity improvements show diminishing returns as work experience exceeds seven years. In the spatial dimension, improvements are minimal with less than three years' experience but significantly improve afterwards. In the quantity dimension, improvements demonstrate an inverted U-shaped relationship, peaking at 21 years of experience.

The findings address the research question by demonstrating a significant positive relationship between institutional layout and university governance capability across the time, space, and quantity dimensions. The results highlight the importance of aligning institutional structures with the dynamics of governance elements—timeliness, mobility, discreteness, and scarcity—to optimize resource allocation and enhance overall effectiveness. The identification of threshold effects concerning work experience underscores the need for dynamic and adaptable institutional layouts to account for changing motivational levels and experience-based perspectives. The varying impacts across different types of universities highlight the need for context-specific approaches to institutional design and governance reform. The moderating effects of responsiveness, coordination, expansion, and organizational conformity further emphasize the importance of fostering collaboration, efficiency, and alignment within university structures to maximize the impact of institutional design on governance outcomes. The study's findings contribute to the literature by offering a comprehensive, multidimensional framework for understanding university governance and providing practical insights for policymakers and university administrators.

This study contributes to understanding university governance by demonstrating the significant impact of institutional layouts on governance capabilities across time, space, and quantity dimensions. The findings emphasize the need for dynamic, flexible, and expansive organizational structures to optimize governance efficiency. Future research should expand the geographical scope and explore the influence of external factors on governance effectiveness. This research highlights the need for continuous structural adjustments to maintain optimal governance.

The study's focus on Chinese universities might limit the generalizability of the findings to other national contexts. The reliance on self-reported data through questionnaires may introduce potential biases. Future research should consider incorporating alternative data sources and expanding the geographical scope to enhance the robustness and generalizability of the findings. The study primarily focuses on internal factors affecting governance, while external factors like policy changes and market demands may influence the results.