Participative Leadership and Cultural Diversity in Southwest Nigerian Universities
Keywords:
Participative leadership, Cultural diversity, Nigerian Universities, democratic leadership, higher education leadership, Southwest NigeriaAbstract
Participative leadership is a key factor in ensuring inclusive and culturally diverse university environments. This study examined the influence of participative leadership on cultural diversity in selected public universities in Southwest Nigeria using a quantitative survey design. Data were collected from 592 final-year students across six public universities, with one public university selected from each state in the Southwest geopolitical zone. Participative leadership was measured using 10 questionnaire items, while cultural diversity was measured using 15 items covering intercultural competence, curriculum inclusivity, and student participation. The instruments showed acceptable internal consistency, with Cronbach’s alpha values of .748 for participative leadership and .865 for cultural diversity. Descriptive results showed that participative leadership was moderately practised (M = 2.96, SD = .9669), while cultural diversity was perceived more positively (M = 3.16, SD = .7756). Ordinal logistic regression showed a statistically significant model, χ²(2) = 7.469, p = .024, although the effect size was small (Nagelkerke R² = .015). The moderate participative leadership category was positive and significant (B = 0.749, p = .028, 95% CI [0.080, 1.418]), so the null hypothesis was rejected. The findings indicated that participative leadership contributes to cultural diversity when consultation is linked to feedback, policy input, rule-making, curriculum inclusion, and student participation. It is recommended that universities establish structured participatory platforms, inclusive curriculum review, transparent feedback systems, and stronger student representation in university governance.
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Data are available upon reasonable request from the corresponding author.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Oluwatayomi Ajibade Abiola, Prof. Caren Akomo Ouma, Prof. Truphena Oduol (Author)
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