The Inaugural Africa Month Symposium. Educate an African Fit for the 21st Century – Building Resilient Education Systems for Increased Access to Inclusive, lifelong, quality and relevant learning in Africa (AU theme, 2024). 20 May 2024, Nelson Mandela University
Abstract
Higher education is a powerful means of building a knowledge-based society and forming the basis for innovation, technical transformation, and social change, which are the main pillars of sustainable development. As such, major societal changes are introduced and effected through higher education institutions (HEIs). This study investigates the need for transformational leadership in sustaining the productivity of HEIs in Cameroon, with bearings from COVID-19. Participants for this study included teachers from state and private HEIs in seven out of ten regions of Cameroon. Correlation and Regression Models were used to assess the impact of transformational leadership on sustainable productivity, which is grounded in Michael Fullan’s (2011) six secrets of educational change theory and SDG4 and 8. A positive and significant relationship was observed between transformational leadership and the productivity of HEIs. While transformational leadership was observed more in state-owned HEIs, the impact was more in private than in state HEIs. The mean value for intellectual stimulation for sustainable productivity is higher for private HEIs than state institutions, showing that they are more used in private HEIs to improve their productivity than in state-owned HEIs in Cameroon. While the correlational analysis revealed that intellectual stimulation has the most substantial correlate effect on sustainable productivity, the regression analysis showed that inspirational motivation adds more value to productivity. Based on these findings, we recommend a leadership model for sustaining organizational productivity where the essence of the effective practice of transformational leadership is collaboration, especially in the change process.
