Tokenistic Participation as a Governance Mechanism in Higher Education: “Asked to Participate, Not to Decide” and Teacher Agency

Abstract

This study reconceptualises tokenistic participation as a governance mechanism in higher education contexts where participation is formally encouraged while decision-making authority remains limited. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 20 teachers working in public universities in China, the study examines how participation is enacted, interpreted, and negotiated in everyday governance practices. The findings show that participation is widely experienced as procedural rather than influential: Teachers are routinely consulted, yet their input rarely shapes final decisions and is often accompanied by limited feedback or justification. In this sense, tokenistic participation functions as a legitimacy and risk-management mechanism that channels voice without redistributing decision rights. Under these conditions, teacher agency is not eliminated but reconfigured through adaptive strategies such as compliance, withdrawal, and quiet resistance. Rather than challenging governance structures directly, these forms of agency often co-exist with, and may stabilise, existing arrangements by managing frustration without redistributing authority. By shifting attention from the presence of participation to its governing effects, the study contributes to critical debates on shared governance, professional agency, and the limits of participatory approaches to educational change under contemporary managerial conditions.