A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education

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LEADERSHIP PRACTICES, UNIVERSAL WORK VALUES AND NATIONAL KEY RESULTS: A STUDY

ON MALAYSIAN EDUCATION SYSTEM

BY

ROSNINAH BINTI GHANI

A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education

Kulliyyah of Education

International Islamic University Malaysia

AUGUST 2018

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ABSTRACT

This study investigates the relationship between leadership practices, followership practices, strategic leadership practices and universal work values of the Malaysian educational leaders towards the National Key Result Areas achievements. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among Ministry of Education leaders. A total of 1068 respondents which were selected through stratified random sampling participated in this survey. The questionnaire consists of five constructs namely Leadership Practices Instrument (LPI) and Followership Practices Instrument (FPI) adapted from Ministry of Education Leaders, Strategic Leadership Practices (SLP) adopted from Davies Strategic Leadership Style, Universal Work Value (UWV) adapted from Islamic Work Ethic and a self-developed construct on leader’s target of NKRAs achievement. Data were analysed descriptively using SPSS software while the research model were tested using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) analysis aided in SmartPLS 3 software. The findings shows that the Malaysian educational leaders Leadership Practices and Strategic Leadership Practices have a significant influence on NKRAs achievement. The Leadership Practices, Followership Practices and Strategic Leadership Practices also shows the significant influence on Universal Work Value. A mediating effect test shows that Universal Work Value partially mediate the relationship between Leadership Practices and the NKRAs achievement. Thus, this result suggest that the leadership practices, followership practices and strategic leadership practices is practical to be built from exemplary education leaders. The indicators of these constructs should be used as evaluation instruments during the selection and evaluation process of new exemplary education leader. A universal work value is important work culture to leap the leadership practices towards NKRAs achievement.

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ثحبلا صخلم

ثحبت هذه

ةساردلا في

ةقلاعلا ينب

تاسرامم ةدايقلا

، تاسرامم ةعباتلما

، تاسرامم ةدايقلا

ةيجيتاترسلاا ميقو

لمعلا ةيلماعلا ةداقل

ميلعتلا ينيزيلالما

نم لجأ تازانجإ قطانلما

ةينطولا

ةيساسلأا .

يرجُأ حسم يعطقم ضرعتسم

ينب ق ي ةدا ةرازو ميلعتلا

، كراش في اذه

علاطتسلاا نم

8601 بجتسم

َم ت َ َ مهرايتخا نم

للاخ ذخأ

ةنيع ةيئاوشع

ةيقبط . نوكتي نايبتسلاا

نم ةسخم جذانم يه كص تاسراملما ةيدايقلا

(LPI)

ةيلآو

تاسرامم ةعباتلما

(

^FPI

) تيلا

تم اهفييكت نم

ق ي ةدا ةرازو ةيبترلا ميلعتلاو تاسراممو

ةدايقلا ةيجيتاترسلإا

(

^SLP

) تيلا

تم اهينبت نم بولسلاا ةدايقل سيفيد

ةيجيتاترسلاا

(

Davies Strategic Leadership Style

) ةميقو لمعلا ةيلماعلا

(

^UWV

) تيلا

تم اهفييكت

نم لمعلا قلاخلأا يملاسلإا

ءانبو تياذلا ةمدقتلما ىلع

فده دئاقلا نم زانجلإا .

^NKRAs

تم ليلتح تانايبلا لكشب

يفصو مادختساب

جمانرب

^SPSS

امأ تم رابتخا جذونم

ثحبلا

مادختساب ليلتح

ةجذنم تلاداعلما ةيلكيلها

ةيئزلجا تاعبرملل لقلأا

(

^PLS

-

^SEM

) ةدعاسبم

جمانرب

SmartPLS 3

رهظت جئاتنلا نأ ةداق ميلعتلا ينيزيلالما تاسراممو

ةدايقلا ةيجيتاترسلاا

اله يرثأت يربك ىلع زانجإ

NKRAs

حضوت تاسرامم ةدايقلا

تاسراممو ةعباتلما

تاسراممو

ةدايقلا ةيجيتاترسلاا

اًضيأ يرثأتلا يربكلا ىلع ةميق لمعلا ةيلماعلا

. رهظي رابتخا يرثأت

ةطاسولا نأ

"

ةميق لمعلا ةلماشلا

"

طسوتت لكشب

يئزج في ةقلاعلا ينب

تاسرامم

ةدايقلا زانجإو .

^NKRAs

لياتلابو نإف

هذه ةجيتنلا يرشت

لىإ نأ تاسرامم ةدايقلا

تاسراممو

ةعباتلما تاسراممو ةدايقلا

ةيجيتاترسلاا يه

ةيلمع نكيم اهؤانب نم ةداق ميلعتلا يجذومنلا .

تارشؤم هذه

تابيكترلا تاودأك

مييقت للاخ ةيلمع رايتخا مييقتو دئاق ميلعتلا يجذومنلا

ديدلجا . لثتم ةميق لمعلا ةيلماعلا

ةفاقث لمع ةمهم زفقلل نم تاسرامم ةدايقلا

ونح

زانجإ

.

^NKRAs

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APPROVAL PAGE

This dissertation of Rosninah Binti Ghani has been approved by the following:

________________________________

Azam Othman Supervisor

__________________________________

Mohd Burhan Ibrahim Co-Supervisor

_________________________________

Mohammad Johdi Salleh Co-Supervisor

________________________________

Mohd Sahari Nordin Internal Examiner

________________________________

Muhammad Faizal A. Ghani External Examiner

________________________________

Omar Abdull Kareem External Examiner

_______________________________

S.M.Abdul Quddus Chairman

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DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this dissertation is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. I also declare that it has not been previously or concurrently submitted as a whole for any other degrees at IIUM or other institutions.

Rosninah binti Ghani.

Signature... Date...

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INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA

DECLARATION OF COPYRIGHT AND AFFIRMATION OF FAIR USE OF UNPUBLISHED RESEARCH

LEADERSHIP PRACTICES, UNIVERSAL WORK VALUES AND NATIONAL KEY RESULTS: A STUDY ON MALAYSIAN

EDUCATION SYSTEM

I declare that the copyright holder of this dissertation is Rosninah binti Ghani.

No part of this unpublished research may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior written permission of the copyright holder except as provided below:

1. Any material contained in or derived from this unpublished research may be used by others in their writing with due acknowledgement.

2. IIUM or its library will have the right to make and transmit copies (print or electronic) for institutional and academic purposes.

3. The IIUM library will have the right to make, store in a retrieved system and supply copies of this unpublished research if requested by other universities and research libraries.

By signing this form, I acknowledged that I have read and understand the IIUM Intellectual Property Right and Commercialization policy.

Affirmed by Rosninah binti Ghani

……..……….. ……..………..

Signature Date

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In the name of Allah the most Gracious the most Merciful This thesis is especially dedicated to:

My late father, Hj. Abd.Ghani Bin Hj.Matahir who is always in my thoughts My beloved mother, Hjh. Baikah Binti Ulleh

My sisters Rahmah and Farhiyah My brother Sabaruddin My husband Ahmad Rosman

My dear children Nur Sabrina Farzana, Ahmad Arif Danial, Ahmad Farid Hanafi and Ahmad Harith Irfan

Alhamdulillah....

Thank you for your patience, sacrifices and support throughout this whole journey of my studies.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My highest gratitude to the blessings of the Almighty, for His grace enabled me to complete this study.

The opportunity to pursue my studies in IIUM was the most beautiful and heart-warming moment.

I would like to convey my highest appreciation to my study supervisors, Assoc.

Prof. Dr. Azam Othman, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mohd. Burhan Ibrahim, Assoc. Prof. Dr.

Mohammad Johdi Salleh. Not forgetting my thanks to Prof. Dr. Hairuddin Mohd Ali for giving me the opportunity to explore this field of study.

My sincere thanks also goes to all lecturers and staff of Kulliyyah of Education for their support throughout my studies.

My appreciation to the Institute of Teacher Education for the opportunity and avenue for me to further my studies. Not to forget, my thanks to the Sponsorship Division that has helped me a lot in sponsoring my studies.

Thank you to my whole family, friends and individuals that conveyed their help, motivation and support throughout this journey.

May Allah s.w.t. reward all your kindness many folds of blessings. Aamiin.

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 Kelley’s Followership Styles 56

Table 3.1 Determination of Sample Size Through the Confidence

Interval and Margin of Error (Accuracy) 87

Table 3.2 Samples Involved in this Study 88

Table 3.3 Instruments used in Measuring the Variables in this Study 93 Table 3.4 The Alpha Cronbach Values for Leadership Practices,

Followership Practices, Strategic Leadership Practices,

Universal Work Values and New Key Result Areas 98 Table 3.5 Rules of Thumb for Evaluating the Reflective and the

Formative Measurement Models 106

Table 4.1 Respondents’ Demographic Background (n=1068) 109

Table 4.2 Descriptive Statistics of Model the Way (n=1068) 111 Table 4.3 Descriptive Statistics of Inspire a Shared Vision

(n=1068) 112

Table 4.4 Descriptive Statistics of Challenge a Process (n=1068) 113 Table 4.5 Descriptive Statistics of Enable Others to Act (n=1068) 114 Table 4.6 Descriptive Statistics of Encourage the Heart (n=1068) 115 Table 4.7 Descriptive Statistics of Independent Thinking

(n=1068) 116

Table 4.8 Descriptive Statistics of Active Engagement (n=1068) 118 Table 4.9 Descriptive Statistics of Be Strategically Oriented

(n=1068) 120

Table 4.10 Descriptive Statistics of Translate Strategy into Action

(n=1068) 121

Table 4.11 Descriptive Statistics of Align People and Organisation

(n=1068) 122

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Table 4.12 Descriptive Statistics of Determine Effective Strategic

Intervention Points (n=1068) 122

Table 4.13 Descriptive statistics of Develop Strategic

Competencies (n=1068) 123

Table 4.14 Descriptive Statistics of Dissatisfaction or Restlessness

with the Present (n=1068) 124

Table 4.15 Descriptive Statistics of Absorptive Capacity (n=1068) 125 Table 4.16 Descriptive Statistics of Adaptive Capacity (n=1068) 126

Table 4.17 Descriptive Statistics of Wisdom (n=1068) 127

Table 4.18 Descriptive Statistics of Honesty Values (n=1068) 128 Table 4.19 Descriptive Statistics of Diligent Values (n=1068) 129 Table 4.20 Descriptive Statistics of Earnestness Values (n=1068) 130

Table 4.21 Descriptive Statistics of Preschool (n=1068) 131

Table 4.22 Descriptive Statistics of Literacy and Numeracy Rates

(n=1068) 132

Table 4.23 Descriptive Statistics of the High Performing Schools

(n=1068) 133

Table 4.24 Descriptive Statistics of New Deals for Head Teachers

and Principals (n=1068) 135

Table 4.25 Descriptive Statistics of Assessing Normality Data on

NKRA based on Skewness and Kurtosis (n=1068) 138

Table 4.26 Item Deleted for Each of the Latent Variable 141

Table 4.27 Reflective Measurement Model Assessment 142

Table 4.28 Inter Item Cross Loading 144

Table 4.29 Fornell-Larcker Criterion Discrimanant Validity 145 Table 4.30 Heterotrait-Monotrait Ratio of Correlations (HTMT) 145

Table 4.31 Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) 148

Table 4.32 Significance and Outer Weights Results 150

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Table 4.33 Results of Collinearity Statistic (VIF) 152

Table 4.34 Significance Testing Results of the Structural Model

Path Coefficients 154

Table 4.35 Results of R2 and Q2 Values 157

Table 4.36 Summary of Results of the Path Coefficients, f2 and q2 158 Table 4.37 Hypotheses Testing on Significance Relationships of

LP, FP, SL and UWV on NKRA 159

Table 4.38 Significance Analysis of Path Coefficients without the

Mediator 161

Table 4.39 Significance Analysis of Path Coefficients with the

Mediator 161

Table 4.40 Summary of Hypotheses Study 162

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1 General Conceptual Framework of the Study

16 12

Figure 2.1 Kelley's Followership Style's 56

Figure 2.2 The Hypothesized Model of Study 82 86

Figure 3.1 Data Collection Process 100 103

Figure 4.1 Assessing Outliers on the NKRA Based on the

Boxplot 137

Figure 4.2 Assessing Normality Data based on the

Histogram 138

Figure 4.3 Assessing Normality Data Based on the Normal

Curve Plot 139

Figure 4.4 Assessing the Normality Data based on the

Scatter Plot 140

Figure 4.5 Convergent Validity of High Performance

School 146

Figure 4.6 Convergent Validity of New Deal 147

Figure 4.7 Convergent Validity of Preschool 147

Figure 4.8 Convergent Validity of LINUS 148

Figure 4.9 Path Analysis Structural Model 155

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LIST OF ABRREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

NKRA New Key Result Area

GTP Government Transformation Programme

LP Leadership Practices

FP Followership Practices

SLP Strategic Leadership Practices

UWV Universal Work Values

MoE Ministry of Education

PLS Partial Least Square

SEM Structural Equation Modeling

LINUS Literacy and Numeracy Rates

PRESCHOOL Preschool Education

HPS High Performing School

NDPHT New Deals for Principals and Head Teachers

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CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

The Government Transformation Programme (GTP) was launched by the Prime Minister on 28^th January, 2010 with the aim to strengthen the management system of an organisation. Surveys from the Malaysian citizens and the private sector have made up the National Key Results Area (NKRAs) as the heart of the GTP. The Minister of education supports the initiative of the fifth Key Results area which is to improve the quality of education for all the students and to give them all the necessary skills to compete in the global marketplace.

The four education Key Result Areas included in the Ministry of education initiatives, namely Preschool education, Literacy and Numeracy Rates, High Performing School and New Deals for Principals and Head Teachers are set by the government with the objective to improve student outcomes. This is due to the decline in the Malaysian student outcomes in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS) in 2007 compared to countries like Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea (Government Transformation Programme Annual Report, 2010). Besides that, the meta-analytic findings of studies over the past years conducted by the Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) show that school leaders influence students’ achievement (Waters et al., 2007). Therefore, this study is conducted to examine the effects of the Malaysian educational leader’s Leadership Practices, Followership Practices, Strategic Leadership Practices and Universal Work Value as the predictors of NKRA’s achievement.

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2 1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Leadership behaviours of a leader play an important role in determining the success of an organisation. Studies by the Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) finds that school leaders have a high impact on student achievement (Waters et al., 2007). In the Malaysian education context, exemplary and effective leaders can ensure the successful implementation of the national education policy (National Education Policy, 2012). In 2009, a Government Transformation Plan (GTP) was carried out to reposition and reengineer the educational system to be of better quality (Government Transformation Programme Annual Report, 2010). The National Key Result Area (NKRA) is used as a tool to ensure that they are continuously working to better serve the needs of fellow Malaysians.

The Malaysian education system has made tremendous achievements over the past 50 years. The national vision 2020 which was launched on 28^th February 1991 is to achieve the target of Malaysia to be a developed country by 2020. In 2007 there is an issue on the Malaysian students’ achievement in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS) compared to achievement of students from Hong Kong, Singapore and south Korea (Government Transformation Programme Annual Report, 2010). Twenty percent of Malaysian students failed to meet the minimum standards in Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS). This give signals to the role of leaders in improving students’ outcomes. Effective leadership practices are needed in order to improve academic achievement and generate positive change in the educational organisations. Findings from previous study proved that leader’s leadership practices positively influence academic achievement and reform the didactic institution (Abu -Tineh et al., 2009). Therefore, this study is conducted to examine the Malaysian leadership practices, followership practices and strategic

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leadership practices in predicting the students’ outcomes in the National Key Results Areas achievement.

Leaders play an important role in the development of NKRAs whereas, followers and leaders’ performances contribute to the success of any organisation. In achieving the global demand market, leaders’ leadership practices, followership practices and strategic leadership practices should receive enough attention among researchers. Several research related to the effectiveness of leadership and followership in the organisations argue that leaders who exhibit integrity, charisma or transformational behaviours in leading global companies have the strongest positive influence on effective leadership and performance (Kouqing, 2008; Kieffer, 2003;

Bass, 1990).

Leaders must increase their job performance to create a more positive work environment that emphasizes participation and strong relationship-building (Dennings, 2007; Hooijberg, Lane & Diverse, 2010). The Education Development Plan (2001-2010) was developed to ensure access, equity and quality so that all citizens have the opportunity to go through 12 years of education. This is to ensure that the vision of the educational system and students can meet the country's needs in the future. To achieve the target, the Malaysian educational sector needs effective leadership and followership practices.

The aim of the Malaysia government for the educational sector is to improve educational attainment by ensuring that every student has access to quality and affordable education. Thus, the objective of GTP is to emphasize on the effectiveness of service delivery and responsibility for the success of giving priority to the people.

Therefore, the Malaysian Educational Leaders must ensure that students’ outcomes are successful. In achieving the government’s target, the leader’s leadership practices are

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very important to determine the success of the GTP in the educational sector. The meta-analytic findings of studies over the past years conducted by the Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) find that school leaders have a high impact on students’ achievement (Waters & Cameron, 2007). The findings of the study support the important of leadership practices study.

Effective leadership practices are closely related to quality education (Fisher, 2010). The Malaysian Education Development Master Plan (2006-2010) has been designed to produce quality education for all. The rapid changing in the style of Malaysian government management system today has made organisational goals become more competitive and globalized. Therefore, the Malaysian education system need leaders who are fit to lead in the changing time.

Leaders’ strategic leadership practice is another factor that facilitates goal achievements. Strategic leadership involves thinking, planning and action by leaders to sustain organisations’ improvement (Davies & Davies, 2004). This type of leadership occurs when leaders assess the internal and external environments for opportunities and threats, create ways to capitalize on the opportunities while minimizing threats (Kieffer, 2003; Rue & Holland, 1989; Nandakumar, Ghobadian, &

O’Regan, 2010).

The Malaysian Interim Strategic Plan of the Ministry of Education (2011-2020) is a continuation of the Blueprint which aims to provide Educational Strategic Plan to ensure that every student will be given a chance to succeed. The continuous effort made by the Malaysian government on the Malaysian education system needs an effective strategic leadership practices which can help an organisation to improve their performance and compete in turbulent and unpredictable surroundings (Ireland & Hitt, 2005).

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Organisations exist to achieve goals. Leaders direct and motivate followers to specific performance behaviours to achieve their goals (Polito, 2010). The uniqueness of the organisational structure in the Malaysian education system signals the lack of coordination. Polito (2010) found that organisations charge leaders with improving organisational performance and commitment. It is an expectation that every member of the organisation provide top performance to remain competitive. Therefore, this study assesses the leadership practices, followership practices, strategic leadership practices and universal work value of the Malaysian educational leaders in predicting the NKRAs achievement.

Leadership has been a major topic of research for almost a century and has spawned thousands of empirical and conceptual studies (Murray, Pirola-Merlo, Sarros

& Islam, 2010). Leadership is not viewed on a personal level when all are born leaders; be it in the family, at home or in profit and non-profit organisations. A study on Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) by Hart (1978) provides us with the information that influential leaders are able to ensure the loyalty of its followers even in their absence. Thus, a study on exemplary leadership qualities and practices will fulfill the gap.

In discussing the practices of exemplary leadership, Kouzes and Posner (2002b; 2007) were among the top researcher which outline several criteria of good qualities leadership emulated to ensure positive impact in achieving organisational goals. A leader has to be able to exhibit positive qualities and to influence his followers in achieving the goals of the organisation that he represents. Thus, this verifies that leadership correlates with leaders’ behaviours where values are transformed into actions, visions into realities, obstacles into innovations, separateness into solidarity, and risks into rewards. Leadership qualities create a climate in which

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people turn challenging opportunities into remarkable successes (Kouzes & Posner, 1997).

The five exemplary leaderships proposed by Kouzes and Posner (1987; 1995;

2002; 2002b) are made to challenge leaders especially in getting extraordinary things done. However, leadership is a reciprocal relationship between those who choose to lead and those who decided to follow (Kouzes & Posner, 1993). Despite the interdependency of leadership practices and goal achievements, leaders’ exemplary leadership practices are not the only determiner of goal achievement. Leaders’

followership styles complemented their exemplary leadership. Thus, there is a need to study both exemplary leadership practices and leaders’ followership styles, as predictors in organisational achievement.

Davies and Davies (2004) stress that strategic leadership is a critical component in the effective development of organisations but there are few literatures related to strategic leadership. Nandakumar et al. (2010) states that effective strategy provides sustainable competitive advantage to an organisation resulting in superior performance. Therefore, the leaders’ strategic leadership practices is an important variable to study along with leadership and followership factors.

There are researchers who argue that work values affect an individual’s performance. It is an important tool where management practitioners discharge their functions smoothly and achieve the predetermined objectives of the organisations (Ather, Khan & Hoque, 2011). A leader’s unique legacy is the creation of valued institutions that survive over time. The most significant contribution leaders make is in the long term development of people and institutions so they can adapt, change, prosper and grow (sustaining the achievement) (Kouzes & Posner, 2007).