Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which principals’ use of autocratic
leadership style influences students’ academic performance in public secondary schools in Mwala sub-county,
Machakos County. This study used descriptive survey research design. It targeted 72 schools, 72 principals and
505 teachers in Mwala Sub-county. The study employed stratified random sampling technique to select 36
principals and simple random sampling technique to include 216 teachers. The instruments were validated through
piloting and by research experts to ascertain content validity while reliability was achieved through piloting using
test-retest method. Data was coded and entered into Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.0
for analysis. Descriptive statistics which included frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations were
employed to analyse data. Inferential statistics which basically involved running correlation analysis at 0.05 level
of significance were employed to test the nature and strength of relationships between variables. The study
employed tables to present the analysed results. The results revealed that there was a weak negative correlation
between autocratic leadership style and students’ academic performance which was not statistically significant (R
= -.259, p=.160). The study recommends to: Kenya Institute of Educational Management (KEMI) and the
Teachers’ Service Commission (TSC) to regularly in-service teachers on leadership styles; principals to
discourage practices associated with autocratic leadership practices since they improve academic performance.
