https://ejournal.um.edu.my/index.php/MOJEM <p><strong>The Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Management (MOJEM) </strong>(e-ISSN: 2289-4489) is an international, peer reviewed, open access electronic publication by the Department of Educational Management, Planning &amp; Policy, Faculty of Education, University of Malaya. MOJEM serves as a platform for researchers, scholars, academic professionals, universities, and research organizations to raise key issues across disciplinary boundaries and facilitate sharing and exchanging views in the field of educational management, administration and leadership. The journal is published four times a year (January, April, July and October). Potential research manuscripts will be reviewed by the professional members of the MOJEM's editorial board anonymously. The reviewing process usually takes four to eight weeks.</p> en-US MOJEM: Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Management 2289-4489 https://ejournal.um.edu.my/index.php/MOJEM/article/view/67965 <p>Malaysia is progressing towards a a sustainable management, and concepts such as a low-carbon future, circular economy, and clean and responsible consumption are making waves in the terminology under this field of study. In the aspect of education leadership and management, this study examines the relationships and understanding of sustainability-related literacy among lecturers at Malaysian public universities, their modelling of sustainable conduct, and their experiences with institutional assistance. The sample size includes 350 respondents who had participated in a survey and 20 interview participants from 12 public institutions. Interestingly, the study demonstrates that sustainability literacy is inconsistent, behavioral modelling differs significantly throughout fields, and institutional support is not as significantly impactful as hypothesized.&nbsp; In other words, this indicates that literacy alone does not forecast sustainable behavior, underscoring the necessity for enhanced institutional leadership, more explicit expectations, and robust structural support. Findings contextualize Sustainability Literacy (SL) literacy within the framework of sustainable leadership, contending that Malaysia's higher education system must amalgamate knowledge, behavior, and institutional frameworks to further sustainability objectives and cultivate future change agents. As implications, this study suggests a system-level leadership strategy that integrates professional development, policy alignment, and governance changes to establish sustainability as a fundamental academic and institutional priority.</p> Nie Jing Zainudin Hassan Copyright (c) 2026 2026-01-23 2026-01-23 14 1 1 17 https://ejournal.um.edu.my/index.php/MOJEM/article/view/67968 <p>The principal’s strategic resource leadership plays a central role in sustaining effective teaching and learning in Malaysia’s culturally embedded Islamic education system. The effectiveness of leadership depends on how financial, human, and physical resources are planned, allocated, and aligned with the school’s religious and cultural mission. Although the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013–2025 emphasises student-centred learning, strategic resource management, and lifelong learning, existing leadership models give limited attention to the distinctive religious, cultural, and spiritual realities of Islamic schooling. Most available frameworks remain administratively oriented and insufficiently responsive to the cultural expectations of faith-based institutions. This study, therefore, aims to develop a School Resource Leadership Framework grounded in Islamic educational values and suited to the Malaysian Islamic school context, while remaining aligned with national education goals. The new framework comprises three culturally contextualised domains: (1) leading human resources to maximise student learning, (2) leading resources systematically (ICT, data, and finance), and (3) leading funds and information to develop teacher competency. Using the Modified Fuzzy Delphi Method (MFDM), expert consensus was gathered through three rounds involving specialists in Islamic education, school leadership, and educational management. In Round 1, qualitative interviews with six experts generated 72 preliminary indicators. Round 2 validated and refined these indicators based on expert feedback. In Round 3, a panel of 23 experts evaluated all items using fuzzy computations, with threshold values (d ≤ 0.2) and a ≥75% agreement as acceptance criteria. The final model includes 72 empirically supported, contextually relevant indicators that address the gaps between conventional leadership theories and the needs of Islamic school settings. This study contributes to comparative education by offering a culturally grounded resource leadership model that supports educational equity, local values, and policy reform in diverse schooling systems across Southeast Asia.</p> Sharifuddin Suhaimi Norfariza Mohd Radzi Siti Shafiqah Rafiquddin Muhammad Faizal A. Ghani Copyright (c) 2026 2026-01-23 2026-01-23 14 1 18 35 https://ejournal.um.edu.my/index.php/MOJEM/article/view/67969 <p>The focus of this study is to examine how Empowering Professional Leadership (EPL) can enhance the understanding of the concept of teacher leadership among Malaysian pre-service teachers.&nbsp;While conventional leadership models often emphasize positional authority and technical tasks, this domain highlights culturally grounded, future-oriented dimensions that are crucial for holistic teacher development. The five main EPL themes that relate to this positive outlook are Pioneering the Attitude of Servitude, Practicing Futuristic Thinking, Catalyzing Change, Leading a Research Culture, and Triggering Entrepreneurial Values. These EPL themes are also in line and reflect the Malaysian National Philosophy of Education, which is the hope towards the balance in the individuals’ intellectual, spiritual, emotional, and social development. EPL also served to develop and assess a set of indicators of culturally responsive leadership that can be used as part of the Malaysian teacher educator programs. A Modified Delphi Method was employed across three rounds. In round 1, qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews with six educational leadership experts, resulting in the identification of initial themes and 74 proposed indicators. Round 2 involved expert review using an open-ended questionnaire, leading to refinement of the indicators based on conceptual clarity and contextual relevance. In round 3, a Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM) was applied, involving 27 local experts comprising teacher educators, school leaders, and ministry officers. Fuzzy logic procedures, including defuzzification and threshold analysis (d ≤ 0.2), were used to establish expert consensus at a minimum agreement level of 75%. The study validated 74 indicators across the five themes, highlighting leadership as an evolving process rooted in service, critical inquiry, and innovative thinking. With these findings, a new validated framework that is culturally responsive and empirically sound, and which prepares future educators as teacher leaders with the new required competencies has been defined. This study adds to the decolonial reconceptualisation of teacher leadership, with implications for teacher education reform in Malaysia and similar Global South contexts.</p> Amirul Fahmie Abdul Razak Muhammad Faizal A. Ghani Azlin Moktar Hasan Argadinata Norfariza Mohd Radzi Copyright (c) 2026 2026-01-23 2026-01-23 14 1 36 60 https://ejournal.um.edu.my/index.php/MOJEM/article/view/67971 <p>The project studies digital leadership challenges as well as AI leadership challenges incorporated with virtual reality in a practice-based higher education, with the applied area being Decorativematerials education. The DML-ELVR (Decorative materials learning - experiential learning in virtual reality) framework was designed and examined against substantial problems like limited resources, quality guarantees, and compatibility between technology and instruction in education administration. A mixed-method quasi-experimental study was done to randomly allocate the total sample size of 70 undergraduate students as a VR-based experimental group n=35 &amp; 35 in a traditional control group. Quantitative data from the DMST/validated scales (e.g., LTM, TMI, etc.) will be analyzed using ANCOVA. Qualitative data will be collected via the use of semi-structured interviews with students, as well as class observation. Experimental groups scored higher than control groups on material cognition, design visualization, and applied practice (p&lt;0.01). The study has also recognized many problems related to digital/AI leadership in higher education management and provides solutions. These issues include technology integration problems, staff capability development problems, and institutional resource allocation problems. DML-ELVR framework gives an evidence-based guide for the educational managers about digital transformation. So that VR innovations can have both technology and education.</p> Ke Zhang Ruethai Nimnoi Ratanachote Thienmongkol Copyright (c) 2026 2026-01-23 2026-01-23 14 1 61 71 https://ejournal.um.edu.my/index.php/MOJEM/article/view/67972 <p>This study investigates the extent to which financial behaviour serves as a mediating mechanism linking parental financial socialisation to subjective financial well-being among Malaysian community college students. Drawing on Family Financial Socialisation Theory and an ecological framework of well-being, the research utilised a cross-sectional survey where 432 community college students in Johor, the majority of whom were from lower-income households, were involved in data collection. Data was analysed through Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) to test direct and indirect relationships. Results show parental financial socialisation significantly predicts both students’ financial behaviour and subjective financial well-being. However, financial behaviour does not significantly predict subjective financial well-being, and no mediating effect is observed. Model explanatory power is modest, suggesting that while parental influences remain salient, behavioural execution alone is insufficient to account for students’ well-being evaluations in financially constrained contexts. The findings challenge assumptions of financial well-being studies that place primary importance on behavioural aspects and recognise the importance of relational and contextual aspects that transcend behavioural aspects of the financial practices of individuals. The significance of this study is that it establishes that subjective perceptions of financial well-being of vulnerable students are more influenced by socialisation and perceptions of financial security than by behavioural aspects. In addition, this study extends beyond individual financial behaviour by examining how institutional support mechanisms and educational management practices condition the relationship between students’ financial behaviour and their financial well-being</p> Ahmad Muhaimin Mat Jusoh Intan Marfarrina Omar Siti Nadya Zynuddin Shahazwan Mat Yusoff Copyright (c) 2026 2026-01-23 2026-01-23 14 1 72 95