Assessing the Role of University Administrators: Validating an Instrument for Measuring Participation and Engagement in Decision-Making for Enhanced Governance

Objective: This article discusses the process of developing and validating an instrument to investigate university administrators' participation and engagement in decision-making to improve university good governance in Malaysian public universities. Method: The instrument's development process includes five key dimensions: University administrators' participation and engagement in decision-making related to four key areas: (1) institutional management (IM), (2) financial management (FM), (3) strategic management (SM), (4) human resource management (HM), and (5) university good governance. Instrument: The items developed for decision-making in four key areas were among the pertinent decisions made by three groups of university administrators, including the registrar, bursar, and librarian. Meanwhile, the items developed for university good governance include the University Good Governance Index (UGGI), a tool designed specifically to assist auditors and institutions in systematically assessing governance practices in accordance with Malaysia's current Ministry of Higher Education requirements. Analysis: The validation process described in this article included exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and a reliability test using the Cronbach Alpha value. Results and Discussion: The EFA analysis revealed that all of the items used in this study's five dimensions are valid and reliable for measuring the constructs used. Originality/Value: This concludes that the instrument used in this study is valid and can be replicated in other studies that seek to investigate similar issues in different settings.