Validating Leadership, Empowerment, Justice, and Commitment Constructs: Toward a Sustainable Higher Education Workforce

Abstract

Sustainable higher education depends not only on academic quality and institutional resources but also on organizational conditions that support committed, empowered, and fairly treated employees. This study aimed to validate a measurement instrument assessing transformational leadership, employee empowerment, organizational justice, and organizational commitment among academic and administrative staff in private higher education institutions (PHEIs). The literature indicates that transformational leadership can strengthen organizational commitment, while empowerment provides employees with greater autonomy and participation and organizational justice shapes perceptions of fairness within institutional environments. However, the psychometric adequacy of these interconnected constructs requires contextual validation before they are incorporated into broader models of sustainable higher education. A quantitative cross-sectional design was employed with data obtained from 48 academic and administrative staff members. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to assess indicator loadings, composite reliability (CR), average variance extracted (AVE), and discriminant validity using the Heterotrait–Monotrait ratio (HTMT). The findings demonstrated satisfactory measurement quality, with factor loadings ranging from acceptable to excellent, CR values exceeding 0.88, and AVE values above 0.50. All HTMT ratios were below 0.85, confirming discriminant validity. The study concludes that the instrument provides a reliable and valid foundation for subsequent research examining workforce stability and organizational sustainability in PHEIs. The findings support SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) by strengthening the empirical basis for developing supportive, equitable, and sustainable higher education workplaces.