Stakeholders' Support, Proprietors' Self-Efficacy, and Organisational Performance in Private Secondary Schools in Lagos State, Nigeria

Abstract

Against the backdrop of the critical role private schools play in complementing education, the research addressed a significant gap in understanding the psychological and relational mechanisms that underpin their effectiveness. This study therefore, investigated the interplay between stakeholders' support, proprietors' self-efficacy and organisational performance within private secondary schools in Lagos State, Nigeria. The study was anchored on Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory and Freeman’s Stakeholder Theory, providing a framework for examining how external support systems and internal belief structures converge to influence institutional outcomes. A quantitative correlational research design was adopted, utilising a multi-stage sampling technique to select 500 participants from 40 schools. Data were collected using two validated instruments: the Stakeholders' Support and Organisational Performance Questionnaire (SSAGAQ) and the Proprietor's Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (PSEQ). The data analysis employed descriptive statistics of Pearson’s product-moment correlation. Inferential analysis established strong, positive correlations between stakeholders' support and organisational performance (r = .783, p < .001), and between proprietors' self-efficacy and organisational performance (r = .794, p < .001). The study concludes that the synergy between stakeholder collaboration and proprietors' psychological capital is fundamental to school success. The study then makes actionable recommendation that the institutionalisation of leadership development programmes focused on self-efficacy and the promotion of structured stakeholder engagement frameworks should be the utmost in private school organisations

Keywords: Proprietors' Self-Efficacy, Stakeholders' Support, Organisational Performance, Private Schools, Lagos State