Exploring Participative Leadership Among Principals: A Quantitative Study on Teachers’ Perceptions in Sabah, Malaysia

he purpose of this study was to examine secondary teachers’ perceptions of participative leadership among principals in Sabah. It aimed to determine if (1) there were any significant differences in teachers’ perceptions of participative leadership among principals by way of gender, age, and job experience, (2) there were any significant differences in perceived participative leadership based on a hypothetical value of 3.5, and (3) the descriptive statistics related to perceived participative leadership among principals. The sample comprised 63 teachers who completed the Participative Decision-Making dimension of the Empowering Leadership Questionnaire on Google Forms. Data were subsequently transferred onto a spreadsheet and analyzed using SPSS 26.0. First, Kruskal-Wallis H test revealed nonsignificant differences in teachers’ perceptions of participative leadership by way of age and job experience, while Mann-Whitney U test showed nonsignificant differences in terms of gender. Second, Wilcoxon signed rank test showed that four of the items were significant at p < 0.001 based on a hypothesized value of 3.5. Third, findings indicated a moderate level of perceived participative leadership among principals, suggesting that participative practices are present, but not yet deeply institutionalized in secondary schools. In light of the findings, some recommendations were made on how principals could incorporate participative leadership into their daily school management.