Educational Competitive Intelligence Capability: An Organizational Framework for Environmental Scanning, Intelligence Utilization, and Academic Decision Support
Abstract
Purpose: This study develops and tests educational competitive intelligence as an organizational capability that connects environmental scanning, intelligence utilization, governance and dissemination, and academic decision support in B-S-J-Z schools. Methodology/Approach: The OECD PISA 2018 school questionnaire was linked to the student file for 361 schools and 12,058 students in Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang. Twenty-three principal-reported practices formed transparent, theory-led organizational bundles. School-weighted least-squares models used heteroskedasticity-robust standard errors, 1,000 school bootstrap replications, sensitivity tests, and capability-profile analysis. No expert panel, Delphi process, interviews, or previously validated CI instrument was used. Originality/Relevance: The framework moves competitive intelligence beyond a pedagogical metaphor by locating planning, collection, analysis, dissemination, utilization, feedback, ethics, and decision support within the educational organization. Key Findings: Environmental scanning was positively associated with intelligence utilization (B = .481) and academic decision support (B = .358). The independent utilization-to-decision-support path was positive but uncertain in the baseline model (B = .167), while an intensity-coded sensitivity model produced a significant estimate. Two capability profiles revealed a persistent gap between widespread monitoring and the selective use of information for retention, grouping, parental communication, and other academic decisions. Theoretical/Methodological Contributions: The study specifies an auditable organizational CI cycle, distinguishes formative practice bundles from validated latent scales, and shows that information availability should not be equated with decision capability. The results support institutional monitoring and governance while remaining associational and geographically bounded.