Political power of Italian rectors: an analysis of recruitments in the period 2001-2021

We examine the political power exerted by Italian rectors by investigating the preferential treatment received by the organisational subunits they belong to in terms of personnel resource allocation. During the rectors' mandate, their organisational subunits tend to grow significantly more (by similar to 9%) than the others. The effect persists even after the implementation of the New public management-inspired policy - the Gelmini reform.