INFLUENCE OF PRINCIPALS’ SELF-CONCEPT AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION ON THE RETENTION OF STUDENTS IN LAGOS STATE PRIVATE SECONDARY SCHOOLS, NIGERIA

Abstract

Private secondary school principals often face the problem of students’ retention for many underlying reasons leaving a vacuum of increased running costs for the principal to battle with. This has been a major concern for educational stakeholders and therefore needs urgent attention. Hence, this study investigated the influence of principals’ self-concept and intrinsic motivation on the retention of secondary school students in Lagos State private secondary schools, Nigeria. Survey research design was used in the study. The population of registered private secondary schools in Lagos that formed the study’s population was 21,544 and a stratified random sampling technique was adopted. The schools were stratified in line with the three senatorial districts of the state and two stages of schools; early (schools that are less than five years in operation and advanced stages (schools that are above five years in operation).The sample size of 378 was determined by researcher’s advisor table. A self-structured questionnaire titled Self-concept, Intrinsic Motivation and Private Secondary School Students’ Retention (SIMPSSSR) with reliability coefficient of > 0.70, was used to collect data. The data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. F-statistic of (13.794) indicates that the model provides a meaningful improvement over a model without principals’ self-concept as a predictor and the p-value (.001) shows that the relationship between principals' self-concept and students’ retention is not due to chance. Findings revealed that while self concept of principals has positive significant influence on students’ retention while principals’ intrinsic motivation has an insignificant influence on students’ retention. On the joint contribution of self-concept and intrinsic motivation, findings showed that while intrinsic motivation alone showed only a marginal effect, combining it with self-concept results in a model that is both statistically stronger and more meaningful.  Among the recommendations made were that private secondary school owners should review and modify their policies and structures to ensure that they support the intrinsic motivation of principals, inclusion of policies that promote work flexibility, increased principal involvement in decision-making processes without undue interference and the creation of a supportive environment at work.   KEYWORDS: Intrinsic Motivation, Lagos state, Principal, Retention and Self-concept,.