Exploring Strategic Leadership Among Department Heads in Sabah, Malaysia: A Quantitative Study on Staff’s Perceptions

  • Fung Lan Yong Postgraduate Studies, Jesselton University College, 88300 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
  • Florence Chuah Inclusive GEMS Consultancy, 46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
  • Vui Lee Pang Head’s Office, Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology, Sabah Branch, 88450 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
  • Steward G. Stephen Department of Social Science and Management, Universiti Putra Malaysia Sarawak, 97008 Bintulu, Sarawak, Malaysia
  • Sawanah Mumin Department of Social Science and Management, Universiti Putra Malaysia Sarawak, 97008 Bintulu, Sarawak, Malaysia
  • Loreta Ling Ling Uie Business Studies, Jesselton University College, 88300 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
Keywords: Strategic Leadership, Staff’s Perceptions, Private Higher Educational Institutions (PHEIs), Sabah, Malaysia

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine staff’s perceptions of strategic leadership in Sabah, Malaysia. The sample consisted of 57 administrative and academic staff from two PHEIs located in Kota Kinabalu, who were asked to complete the Strategic Leadership Questionnaire on Google Forms. Responses were subsequently transferred onto a spreadsheet and SPSS 29.0 was used to analyze the data. Wilcoxon signed rank test revealed that 34 of the items significantly differed from the hypothesized value of 3.5 at p < 0.001, while another six significantly differed from the hypothesized at p < 0.05. Besides, no significant gender or age differences were found. Lastly, only low to average proportions of PHEI staff tend to perceive their department heads as strategic leaders. After addressing the key concerns related to strategic leadership in Malaysia, some recommendations were made on how PHEIs could incorporate strategic leadership elements into their daily management.

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Published
2025-12-29
Section
Articles

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