Strategic alignment focuses on ensuring coherence between an organization’s overall strategy and the strategies of its functional areas, such as human resource management. Rooted in goal-setting theory, it emphasizes the value of collective effort and the importance of goal clarity in driving high performance and achieving organizational success. This study aims to examine how strategic alignment influences organizational performance in higher education institutions. Three key components—goal clarity, role clarity, and process clarity—were identified and analyzed as indicators of strategic alignment. Adopting a quantitative methodology with descriptive and explanatory designs, the study gathered data from 365 staff members across three Ethiopian universities selected based on their establishment generation. Descriptive statistics, including mean and standard deviation, were used alongside structural equation modeling (SEM) for confirmatory factor and path analyses. The results demonstrate that goal clarity, role clarity, and process clarity each have a positive and significant impact on organizational performance in higher education settings. Moreover, differences in performance were observed among universities, depending on the extent of strategic alignment implementation. The findings suggest that institutional leaders should articulate clear strategic objectives and ensure well-defined roles and processes across all levels of the organization to enhance performance outcomes.
