Digital Leadership and Teacher Professionalism in Islamic Schools: A Mediation Model of Student Digital Literacy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30762/edudeena.v10i1.8275Keywords:
Digital Leadership, ICT Resource, Teacher Professionalism, Student Digital Literacy, Islamic SchoolsAbstract
Global digital transformation has pushed Islamic schools to align religious values with modern competencies, which places a growing demand on digital leadership and ICT resource management. This study tested an integrative model of the direct and indirect effects of principals' digital leadership and ICT resource management on teacher professionalism and student digital literacy in Islamic schools. A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted among 377 full-time teachers from 25 private Islamic senior high schools (madrasah aliyah) across six provinces in Indonesia; 25 school principals were involved at the institutional consent stage but were not surveyed as respondents to avoid common-source bias. An 18-item instrument measuring four constructs on a five-point Likert scale was adapted from established frameworks and validated through expert review (n = 3) and a pilot test (n = 30). Data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 3. Digital leadership had a strong direct effect on ICT resource management (β = 0.99) and on teacher professionalism (β = 0.99). Teacher professionalism (β = 0.54) was a stronger direct predictor of student digital literacy than ICT resource management (β = 0.46) and served as a significant mediator. The study contributes a Value-Integrated Digital Leadership (VIDL) framework for faith-based schooling and argues that the effectiveness of digital leadership is bounded by its integration with Islamic values. Limitations include the cross-sectional single-country design and reliance on teacher self-report, which future longitudinal and multi-informant studies should address.
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