Strategies for Increasing Professional Commitment of Private Vocational High School Teachers

Abstract

Teachers' professional commitment is an essential factor in the human resource management of a school. One of the causes of high teacher turnover in private schools is their low professional commitment. The impact of high teacher turnover is low school performance. This study aims to examine the structural model of the causality relationship between personal values and transformational leadership of school principals with teachers' professional commitment both directly and through job satisfaction as a mediator variable. The participants of this study were 137 teachers randomly selected from seven private vocational schools in the Bogor Regency area. The research instrument used consisted of four questionnaires with five measurement scales to measure variables of professional commitment, transformational leadership, personal value, and job satisfaction. Path analysis techniques were used to analyze the data in this study. The research found that teachers' professional commitment is directly influenced by the Principal's transformational leadership and teachers' personal values. Another interesting finding in the study is that teachers' professional commitment is also indirectly affected by the Principal's transformational leadership and teachers' personal values. In this context, teacher job satisfaction acts as a reasonably effective mediator between the Principal's transformational leadership, the teacher's personal values, and the teacher's professional commitment. The study's findings imply that strategies for increasing teachers' professional commitment should be designed with attention to principals' transformational leadership that can create job satisfaction among teachers. In addition, the Principal should strive to create an organizational environment that fosters the teacher's personal values that align with the school's vision and culture.