The Influence of Authentic Leadership On Knowledge Management Practices Among Secondary School Teachers in Kedah, Malaysia

ABSTRACT: Authentic leadership has been gaining momentum in being a critical element in molding organizational performance and culture especially in the education sector. Its focus on honesty, openness, integrity, and trust enables it to emerge as a leadership style that will enhance collaboration and knowledge sharing amongst teachers. Effective knowledge management in the Malaysian secondary schools becomes imperative in order to have continuous learning, innovation, and better performance of schools. The research design here was quantitative involving a 10-point Likert-scale questionnaire issued to secondary school teachers in some of the districts within Kedah, Malaysia. The instrument also assessed the perceptions of the teachers on authentic leadership exhibited by their principals and also the usage of knowledge management in their schools. The real-life leadership authenticity was measured using descriptive statistics, correlation, and multiple regressions to investigate how authentic leadership affects knowledge management practices. The findings showed that authentic leadership contributes positively to knowledge management practices at a significant level. Specifically, the authentic leadership traits in principals increased levels of information sharing, collaborative learning, and innovation of teachers. Authentic leadership has also shown a significant level of variance in knowledge management denoting its usefulness of predicting how knowledge management can be increased in schools. By instilling the true values in the leadership activities, the principals have the chance to develop a knowledge-based culture where teachers are empowered, learning occurs, and long-term competitiveness is fostered in the secondary education.