BUDGET ALLOCATION IN A UK UNIVERSITY - CONTRASTING PERIODS OF RESOURCE AVAILABILITY WITH RESOURCE SCARCITY

This paper seeks to identify variables which explain variations in bud get allocations in a UK university using a pooled database relating to two periods: one of resource availability, the other of resource scar city. The results over both periods indicate, consistent with previous research, that a combination of workload and power proxies explains a very. high proportion of budget allocations. However, analysis of the two periods revealed that: (i) incremental budgeting, which was obser ved to be in operation during the period of resource availability, was not supplanted by comprehensive budgeting during the period of resour ce scarcity, (ii) the impact of power proxies on budget allocation did not materially change in response to changes in levels of resource av ailability, and (iii) compared with internally based power, externally based power (as proxied) had neither a greater impact on resource all ocation during the period of resource scarcity nor a, lower impact dur ing the period of resource availability as hypothesized.