Managerial Competence and Work Motivation as Predictors of School-Based Management Quality in Indonesian Kindergartens

Abstract

This research investigates the impact of managerial competence and work motivation on the quality of School-Based Management (SBM) implementation by kindergarten principals in West Lombok, Indonesia. The study employed a quantitative ex post facto design, involving all 36 principals and utilizing validated Likert-scale questionnaires. Descriptive statistics, assumption testing, and simple and multiple linear regression were used for data analysis. The implementation of SBM was found to be average (M = 302.56). The quality of SBM was positively predicted by managerial competence (β = 0.295; R² = 0.087) but more strongly by work motivation (β = 0.488; R² = 0.238). Both variables simultaneously explained 26.0% of the variance in SBM quality (R = 0.510; R² = 0.260; p < 0.05). Results show that work motivation is a better predictor than managerial competence, indicating that enhancing principal motivation alongside managerial competence may facilitate SBM implementation for early childhood education.