Spiritual Leadership and its Relationship with Principal Performance and Elementary School Quality in Remote Areas in Indonesia

Abstract

AbstractThis study aimed to analyze empirical evidence concerning the quality of elementary schools in remote areas in Indonesia vis-a-vis the digital age through the correlation between spiritual leadership and the performance of school principals who were determined as independent variables, while school quality was determined as dependent variables. A quantitative approach was used in this study. Participants involved were elementary school principals and remote area teachers spreading across three districts and two provinces in Indonesia, totaling 147 school principals and teachers. Analysis of the data used was descriptive and path analysis. The results showed that 1) the variable of spiritual leadership (X1) had a direct relationship with the performance variable of the principal (X2), with an influence value of 0.614 or 61.4 percent; 2) the variable of spiritual leadership (X1) has a direct relationship with the variable of school quality (Y), with an influence value of 0.521 or 52.1 percent; 3) principal performance variable (X2) has a direct relationship with school quality variables (Y), with an influence value of 0.700 or 70.0 percent; 4) the relationship of spiritual leadership variables (X1) and the performance of school principals (X2) toward school quality (Y) simultaneously show a value of 0.734 or 73.4 percent; and 5) the variable of spiritual leadership (X1) has an indirect relationship with school quality (Y) through the principal’s performance (X2), with a value of 0.320 (32.0%), with the effect of total spiritual leadership (X1) on school quality (Y) amounted to 0.841 (84.1%).