THE IMPACT OF DISTRIBUTED LEADERSHIP INTENSITY ON STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AT HIGHER VOCATIONAL COLLEGES IN XIANGYANG CITY, CHINA

Abstract

This research examines how the intensity of distributed leadership predicts student academic achievement in higher vocational colleges in Xiangyang City, China. It was designed to (1) describe the current status of distributed leadership intensity across four dimensions—shared decision-making, collaborative goal-setting, distributed instructional supervision, and empowerment & autonomy; (2) describe the current status of student academic achievement across three indicators—skill-assessment scores, course-completion     rates, and internship performance ratings; and (3) test the predictive power of each distributed leadership dimension on these achievement indicators. The population comprised all 62,847    full-time diploma students enrolled in the five public higher vocational colleges in Xiangyang City during the 2024–2025 academic year. A two-stage stratified random sample of 381 students was drawn. Data were collected with the Distributed Leadership Intensity–Student    Achievement Questionnaire (DLI–SAQ) and matched with secondary administrative records. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, and hierarchical multiple regression were employed for analysis. Results show (1) moderate-to-high levels of shared decision-making  (M = 3.71), collaborative goal-setting (M = 3.84), distributed instructional supervision (M = 3.76), and empowerment & autonomy (M = 3.82); (2) positive student outcomes in skill-assessment scores (M = 81.7/100), course-completion rate (78.4 %), and internship performance rating (M = 3.41/5); and (3) statistically significant evidence that all four distributed leadership dimensions predict the three achievement indicators (β = 0.20–0.37, p < 0.01, R² = 0.24–0.31).