Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this study was to examine the ways in which the responses of the community college presidents to the declining state funding reflect an understanding of the constructs of the resource dependency theory (RDT) and to assess the level of implementation of the strategies proposed by RDT to manage the colleges' dependency on the declining state funding. Methodology. A qualitative self-reporting research using interviews of presidents of colleges was used. The population was California community colleges that were successful at resource development. Nine presidents with tenure of at least 2 years in their positions were interviewed. The colleges were located throughout California. Findings. The research showed that the colleges investigated were somewhat successful at resource development compared only to other community colleges (not to 4-year institutions) and did not fully implement the resource development strategies. That finding may be a factor contributes to their relatively limited success. The presidents demonstrated a deep understanding of their organizations and the environmental factors influencing them—an understanding that mirrors the constructs of the theory. They are poised for leading resource development efforts and they possess most of the skills necessary to implement the strategies since they use these skills in the normal management of the colleges. However, the presidents' responses do not indicate an understanding of the guiding strategies for resource development and that they are not fully implementing them. Conclusions. The research supports the evolving paradigm of building successful resource development practices at community colleges, provides comprehensive strategies with which to approach resource development efforts, provides ideas as to the organization of resource development operations, and provides support for an academic definition of the field of resource development. It also furthers a model of community colleges as open systems. Recommendations. Future research can involve replicating the study in 3 years, replicating it in other states with established resource development culture, a closer examination of each resource development strategy identified in this study and how colleges implement them, and the factors influence the colleges' implementation of the strategies.