Cross-sectional study links participative leadership to Ugandan women-led business sustainability

A cross-sectional survey of 221 women owner-managers in Uganda’s Kampala Metropolitan Area found that participative leadership was positively associated with the sustainability of women-led micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, with entrepreneurial commitment accounting for part of that relationship. Partial least squares structural equation modeling indicated that consultation, delegation, shared problem-solving and employee involvement were linked to stronger psychological attachment, persistence and willingness to keep investing in a business. The researchers describe the findings as evidence of two complementary pathways: a direct association between participative leadership and sustainability, and an indirect pathway through the entrepreneur’s commitment to her venture.

The study focused on enterprises in Kampala, Wakiso and Mukono districts where a woman was the owner or principal owner and held primary responsibility for strategic and day-to-day management. Participants were selected through purposive and convenience sampling because no comprehensive, current sampling frame of women-led enterprises was available. The final sample comprised 221 valid questionnaires, a reported usable response rate of 93.7%. Respondents completed a structured five-point Likert questionnaire assessing participative leadership, entrepreneurial commitment, business sustainability and demographic characteristics. Because all three principal constructs were reported by the same people at one point in time, the authors used anonymity assurances, psychological separation of construct sections and Harman’s single-factor test to reduce concern about common-method bias.

Business sustainability was not treated simply as short-term profitability or survival. The questionnaire combined indicators of economic sustainability, social sustainability, environmental responsibility, continuity, adaptability, resilience and long-term stakeholder value. Participative leadership was measured through employee involvement in decisions, consultation, openness to suggestions, delegation, joint planning and shared problem-solving. Entrepreneurial commitment covered emotional attachment, persistence, intention to remain in business, willingness to invest additional effort, sacrifice for continuity and commitment to business goals. This operationalization matters because the model assessed whether leadership practices and owner motivation were associated with a broad outcome extending beyond turnover or continued operation alone.

The measurement model generally met the reported diagnostic criteria for partial least squares structural equation modeling. Indicator loadings ranged from 0.555 to 0.888, while all variance inflation factors were between 1.392 and 3.085, well below the cited threshold of 5.0. Cronbach’s alpha values ranged from 0.769 to 0.856, rho_A values from 0.797 to 0.881, and composite reliability values from 0.844 to 0.896. Average variance extracted ranged from 0.526 for sustainability to 0.633 for participative leadership. The Fornell–Larcker and heterotrait–monotrait criteria also supported discriminant validity: the highest HTMT value was 0.798 for entrepreneurial commitment and sustainability, below the conservative 0.85 reference. In Harman’s test, the first factor accounted for 31.84% of total variance, which the authors interpreted as indicating that no single factor dominated the questionnaire.

All three tested direct relationships were positive and statistically significant in the structural model. Participative leadership had a standardized path coefficient of 0.290 with sustainability, with a standard error of 0.058, t-value of 5.000, p-value below 0.001 and 95% confidence interval from 0.177 to 0.403. Its effect size was f² = 0.131, characterized as small to moderate. Participative leadership was more strongly associated with entrepreneurial commitment, producing a coefficient of 0.503, standard error of 0.052, t-value of 9.673, p-value below 0.001 and 95% confidence interval from 0.401 to 0.605. Entrepreneurial commitment had the largest direct association with sustainability: β = 0.531, SE = 0.055, t = 9.655, p < 0.001 and 95% CI [0.423, 0.639], with a large reported effect size of f² = 0.441.

The model accounted for 25.3% of the variance in entrepreneurial commitment and 52.1% of the variance in business sustainability when participative leadership and entrepreneurial commitment were considered together. Its predictive relevance statistics were also above zero, at 0.142 for entrepreneurial commitment and 0.301 for sustainability. Overall fit was judged acceptable from a standardized root mean square residual of 0.086 and a normed fit index of 0.933. These values show that the specified model reproduced the observed covariance pattern reasonably well in this sample. They do not, however, demonstrate that leadership causes commitment or that either construct causes a business to become sustainable.

Bootstrapped mediation analysis identified a significant positive indirect effect of participative leadership on sustainability through entrepreneurial commitment: β = 0.267, SE = 0.038, t = 7.026, p < 0.001 and 95% CI [0.193, 0.341]. The direct effect remained significant at β = 0.290, while the total effect was β = 0.557, SE = 0.050, t = 11.140, p < 0.001 and 95% CI [0.459, 0.655]. The authors therefore characterized the result as complementary partial mediation rather than full mediation. Entrepreneurial commitment was associated with a substantial share of the modeled relationship, but the remaining direct association was consistent with other possible processes such as knowledge sharing, collaborative decisions and stakeholder involvement.

The interpretation draws on Self-Determination Theory, which links autonomous motivation and sustained engagement to support for the psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness. In the proposed sequence, an owner-manager who consults employees and other business members receives feedback and complementary knowledge, shares responsibility for difficult choices and maintains meaningful agency over strategic decisions. Those experiences may reinforce confidence, belonging and dedication to the venture. Greater commitment could then support persistence, adaptation, stakeholder relationships and continued investment in the business. The study also acknowledges a plausible reverse pathway: an entrepreneur who is already highly committed may be more willing to delegate and collaborate. Because the design was cross-sectional, the direction of influence was theoretically specified rather than established through temporal precedence.

The findings are best understood as a cross-sectional association study rather than a longitudinal test of a leadership intervention. All principal measures were self-reported by the same respondents at one time, which leaves possible common-method and social-desirability effects despite the procedural safeguards and Harman’s test. The purposive and convenience sampling strategy also limits representativeness, and the metropolitan study area may not represent rural Uganda, other regions or businesses in different sectors. Entrepreneurial commitment was the only tested mediator, so the statistical model does not establish that it is the principal mechanism involved. The results nevertheless offer a technically grounded account of how inclusive leadership practice and owner motivation may jointly relate to the economic, social and environmental sustainability of women-led businesses in a resource-constrained entrepreneurial environment.

Subject of Research: A cross-sectional PLS-SEM study of participative leadership, entrepreneurial commitment and sustainability among 221 women-led MSMEs in Uganda’s Kampala Metropolitan Area.

Article Title: Participative leadership and the sustainability of women-led businesses in Uganda: the mediating role of entrepreneurial commitment

Article References: Aheisibwe, J., Kyambade, M., Ayibo, C., & Mugambwa, J. (2026). Participative leadership and the sustainability of women-led businesses in Uganda: the mediating role of entrepreneurial commitment. Frontiers in Organizational Psychology, 4, 1971874. https://doi.org/10.3389/forgp.2026.1971874

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3389/forgp.2026.1971874

Keywords: women-led businesses, Uganda, business sustainability, participative leadership, entrepreneurial commitment, microenterprises, structural equation modeling, Self-Determination Theory, Participative, leadership, sustainability, women-led