Abstract: This study investigated the relationship between stakeholders' accountability practices and the administrative effectiveness of secondary school principals in Delta State, Nigeria. Two research questions and one hypothesis guided the study, which adopted an ex-post facto correlational design. From a population of 473 principals and 11,777 teachers in public secondary schools, a sample of 606 respondents (85 principals and 521 teachers) was drawn using a multi-stage/cluster sampling technique. Two researcher-developed instruments — the Stakeholders' Involvement in Accountability Questionnaire (SIAQ) and the Administrative Effectiveness Questionnaire (AEQ) — were used for data collection. Their face and content validity were established by experts in educational administration and in measurement and evaluation at the Faculty of Education, Delta State University, Abraka, while their internal consistency, assessed with Cronbach Alpha, yielded reliability coefficients of 0.81 and 0.78 respectively. Data were analysed using mean and standard deviation, coefficient of determination, and Pearson Product Moment Correlation, with the hypothesis tested at the 0.05 level of significance. Findings showed that stakeholders' involvement in principals' accountability was generally high, and that stakeholders' accountability practices were significantly and positively related to principals' administrative effectiveness (r = .864, p < .05), accounting for 54.2% of the variance in administrative effectiveness. The study concluded that stakeholders' accountability practices are a strong predictor of principals' effective administration of secondary schools, and recommended that the Ministry of Education and school boards institute structured platforms for regular consultation with stakeholders, including parents, community leaders, and alumni, to strengthen transparency and shared responsibility in school administration.

Keywords: Accountability, effective administration, secondary school, stakeholders.

Title: The Role of Stakeholders' Accountability in Enhancing Secondary School Administration

Author: Adugbo, James A., Peretomode, Victor F., Asiyai, Romina I.

International Journal of Novel Research in Interdisciplinary Studies

ISSN 2394-9716

Vol. 13, Issue 4, July 2026 - August 2026

Page No: 1-8

Novelty Journals

Website: www.noveltyjournals.com

Published Date: 31-July-2026