The aim of this research is to show the relationship between the design of strategic decision-making, political behavior, procedural justice and implementation of the strategic decision-making process in universities. We worked with a sample of 71 higher education institutions: 32 universities in Spain and 39 universities in Chile. Results showed that the independent variables explain 75.9% of the variance of implementing strategic decision- making in universities. Thus, we find that the design of strategic decision, political behavior and procedural justice impact on implementation of the strategic decision-making process. Moreover, the comprehensiveness of the strategic decision-making process impacts on the design. In this context, success of the implementation demands high levels of rationality and procedural justice and low levels of politicizing in the strategic decision-making process.