Spiritual Leadership and Organizational Commitment In Islamic Boarding Schools: The Mediating Role of Trust and Emotional Intelligence
Keywords:
spiritual leadership, organizational commitment, trust, emotional intelligence, PLS-SEM, Islamic boarding school, pesantrenAbstract
This study investigates the mediating role of trust and emotional intelligence in the relationship between spiritual leadership and organizational commitment among teachers at an Indonesian Islamic boarding school (pesantren). Although values-based leadership in Islamic education has gained attention, studies examining trust and emotional intelligence as parallel mediators through PLS-SEM remain limited. Using a quantitative causal-associative design and census sampling, all 44 teachers at Pondok Pesantren Darussalam participated in the study. Data were collected through validated Likert-scale questionnaires and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings show that spiritual leadership had a positive but insignificant direct effect on organizational commitment (β = 0.163, p > 0.05). However, spiritual leadership significantly predicted trust (β = 0.643, p < 0.05) and emotional intelligence (β = 0.555, p < 0.05). In contrast, trust (β = 0.129, p > 0.05) and emotional intelligence (β = 0.262, p > 0.05) did not significantly affect organizational commitment and failed to mediate the relationship. These findings indicate that organizational commitment in pesantren settings is shaped more by intrinsic spiritual values, such as ikhlās, calling, and moral responsibility, than by emotional or trust-based factors. The study highlights the importance of integrating indigenous Islamic values into human resource management in faith-based educational institutions.
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