The Influence of Principal Leadership, Organizational Commitment, and School Culture on Teacher Performance Through Achievement Motivation

Abstract

This quantitative study aims to analyze the direct and indirect effects of principal leadership, organizational commitment, and school culture on the performance of elementary school teachers who are civil servants in Grobogan Regency, with achievement motivation as the mediating variable. Using an explanatory survey approach, data were collected from 375 ASN elementary school classroom teachers selected through purposive random sampling from a population of 5,785 teachers across 19 subdistricts. Hypothesis testing was conducted using the Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) method with the assistance of SmartPLS 4 software. The results of the analysis indicate that all direct and indirect hypotheses were significantly accepted (p < 0.05). Principal leadership (β = 0.284), organizational commitment (β = 0.124), and school culture (β = 0.219) had positive and significant effects on teacher performance. Organizational commitment was found to have the most dominant influence on achievement motivation (β = 0.465). Furthermore, achievement motivation was found to significantly mediate the effects of leadership (β = 0.052), organizational commitment (β = 0.123), and school culture (β = 0.077) on teacher performance. These findings confirm that the continuous improvement of teacher performance does not depend solely on strengthening external leadership and the school climate but also requires an internal psychological drive in the form of achievement motivation.