School organizational culture in Islamic education requires ethical foundations that can support teachers' professional responsibility without neglecting their well-being. This article develops an analytical framework for examining the internalization of amanah (trustworthiness and accountability) and ihsan (excellence and care) in relation to teachers' organizational commitment at SDIT Ar-Raihan, Pagar Alam, Indonesia. A qualitative single-case study is proposed, involving purposively selected school leaders, teachers, and educational staff, with semi-structured interviews, nonparticipant observations, document analysis, and reflexive thematic analysis. A synthesis of recent scholarship indicates that value-based culture may influence affective and normative commitment through trustworthy leadership, professional meaning, organizational justice, and collegial support; continuance commitment also depends on employment conditions. These relationships are presented as propositions requiring field verification, not as empirical findings from the school. The framework offers an ethically grounded direction for examining teacher commitment and improving Islamic school management.
Graduate employability Outcomes (GEO) is a crucial issue in emerging countries, where skill gaps and unemployment among university graduates are consistently rising. In this context, higher education institutions (HEIs) play a pivotal role in developing a strategic approach to fill the gap through collaboration between academia and industry. Nowadays, every higher education institution in emerging countries has an internal quality assurance cell (IQAC), and they play a critical role in ensuring continuous improvement, stakeholder engagement, and curriculum development. However, despite the growing relevance of this issue, limited empirical studies have been conducted on the mediating role of IQAC in the relationship between industry and academia for confirming graduate employability in an emerging economy, like Bangladesh. The purpose of this study is to examine the mediating role of IQAC, including university curriculum (UC), job scholars’ opportunities (JSO), on the association between university-industry collaboration (UIC), and university GEO in Bangladesh, using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) under the quantitative research approach. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire from university graduates, faculty members, and administrative staff. The empirical evidence reveals that UIC significantly contributes to GEO; moreover, IQAC plays a substantial mediating role, including UC and JSO. The findings of the study offer practical contributions for higher educational institutions (HEIs), policymakers, and industry experts to continuously improve graduate employability outcomes, such as practical competencies, skills development, and job readiness.
ABSTRACT. The relationship between instructional leadership behaviours and lecturers’ job performance is important in higher education. Understanding this relationship can help academic leaders support lecturers and improve teaching, research, and academic development. Therefore, this study determines how instructional leadership behaviour of heads of departments (HoDs) influences lecturers’ job performance at the major public universities in Kumasi, Ghana. A cross-sectional survey design was employed to collect data from lecturers in public universities at a single point in time. The sample includes public university lecturers. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select 155 lecturers to provide quantitative data. Data were collected using a questionnaire and analyzed with both descriptive and inferential statistics, including frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations, along with the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient. The findings indicate that HoDs demonstrate active involvement in setting institutional direction, monitoring instruction, and supporting staff development. However, the findings reveal insufficient mentorship to support lecturers’ professional learning and performance. This lack of mentorship could limit opportunities for developing leadership potential among teachers and supporting their career growth. Lecturers displayed effectiveness in their teaching practices. The statistical results confirmed a significant effect of instructional leadership behaviours on lecture delivery (F(4,98) = 20.382, p < 0.01). It was recommended that HoDs should communicate departmental goals clearly and ensure that lecturers understand their teaching, assessment, research, and administrative responsibilities. Additionally, the strong positive correlation between the communication of institutional objectives and lecturer effectiveness highlights the need for university goals, teaching expectations, and performance standards to be communicated clearly across departments.
The stress facing the educational leadership as school principals are required to deal with administrative management, supervision of staff, academic performance and institutional development. There are specific issues that may affect female principals in addition to the other factors listed above: Interpersonal demands, competing professional demands, and work–life balance. Problem-Focused Coping Strategies (PFCS) may be a way to cope with stress by identifying the sources of stress, planning and problem solving, prioritizing and making positive decisions. The present study investigated the correlation between PFCS and Stress Management (SM) of female school principals. The method of quantitative research was employed and data was gathered from 74 principals (females). Analysis of the correlation showed a weak negative correlation between PFCS and SM (r = -.117). The regression model accounted for about 1.4% of the variability in SM (R2 = .014). The overall regression model was not significant (F (1,72) = 1.005, p = .319). The regression coefficient for PFCS was also negative and not significantly different from 0 (B = -.254, β = -.117, p = .319). The results of this study suggest that there was no statistically significant predictive relationship found between the female principals who participated in the study and PFCS and SM. The results do not show that problem-focused coping is not effective, however; it does imply that it may be insufficient to account for variations in stress management in this sample. The results indicate that there is a need to explore further individual and organizational factors, such as workload, institutional support, leadership experience, resources, and work–life balance. More research is needed using larger samples, measuring instruments that have been established and validated, and using longitudinal or intervention designs to investigate the role of problem-focused coping in stress management. Other professional development programs that could be beneficial for educational authorities include those related to problem solving, time management, delegation, and conflict resolution. The research brings insights from the sphere of stress amongst female educational leaders to the discussion and provides some insights for future research directions.
Firms often treat spending on employee training, development and well-being as a discretionary expense rather than an investment. The aim of this article is to examine whether human capital investment improves firm financial performance through employee well-being, and whether this effect depends on the firm's financial constraints. The study integrates human capital theory, the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) model and the corporate finance literature on financing constraints. A moderated-mediation model is proposed in which employee well-being mediates the link between human capital investment and financial performance, while financial constraints weaken the link between investment and well-being. The model is tested on matched employer–employee data from 50–60 project-based organisations in the construction, IT, consulting and engineering sectors of Tashkent. Multilevel moderated-mediation analysis is applied. The scientific novelty lies in treating human capital investment as a financially constrained corporate investment and testing this integrated model in the under-researched context of Central Asia. The results help managers and policymakers understand the financial rationale for investing in employees under different financing conditions.
Background: Psychological stress is a common issue among faculty members due to increasing academic, administrative, and professional responsibilities. Prolonged stress negatively affect mental well-being, job satisfaction, and work performance. Therefore, assessing the level of psychological stress among faculty members is essential for identifying the need for stress-management strategies. This study aimed to evaluate the level of psychological stress among faculty members of colleges and universities. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 101 faculty members from colleges and universities. Participants were recruited using a convenience sampling technique. Data were collected through structured online questionnaire consisting of demographic information and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Descriptive statistics, including frequencies and percentages, were used for data analysis. Results: A total of 101 faculty members participated in the study. The majority of participants were above 30 years of age (46%), female (64%), worked 40-50 hours per week (41%), and possessed a master's degree (68%). Assessment of stress levels using the perceived stress scale revealed 91% of participants experienced moderate stress, 6% experienced low stress, and 3% experienced high stress. Most respondents reported experiencing stress-related feelings such as being upset unexpectedly, inability to control important things in life, nervousness, and difficulty coping "sometimes," indicating a moderate level of perceived psychological stress. Conclusions: The findings indicate that psychological stress is prevalent among faculty members of colleges and universities, with moderate stress being the most commonly reported level. These results highlight need for effective stress-management interventions and workplace wellness programs to promote psychological well-being among faculty members.
The rapid digitalisation and technological advancements associated with Industry 4.0 are transforming work environments, job demands, and employee expectations across sectors. While these changes create new opportunities for flexibility, innovation, and productivity, they also introduce increased pressures that can affect workers’ psychological well-being in different ways. Emerging literature highlights mental health and well-being as critical concerns in the digital era, yet limited attention has been given to how these changes are experienced differently by men and women. This conceptual paper aims to examine gender differences in psychological well-being within the context of Industry 4.0, with a focus on work demands, work–life balance, and organisational support. Through a critical review of existing empirical and theoretical studies, a conceptual framework is proposed, drawing on the Job Demands–Resources (JD–R) theory and supported by Ryff’s Psychological Well-Being model. This framework provides an understanding of how demands and resources associated with Industry 4.0 shape the well-being of men and women in both similar and different ways. The study offers insights for policymakers, organisations, and researchers in developing more inclusive and gender-sensitive strategies to support employee well-being in technology-driven workplaces and contributes to discussions on sustainable work and mental health in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The education of young children constitutes the foundation of their cognitive, social, emotional, and behavioural development. Teacher psychological capital, emotional intelligence, and work engagement are personal resources that may be associated with good teaching practices and child development as perceived by teachers. Using COR theory, this study examined the relationships among teacher psychological capital, emotional intelligence, work engagement, teaching effectiveness, and teacher-reported children's developmental outcomes of early childhood educators in Lagos State, Nigeria. The study employed a correlational research design. A sample of 202 early childhood educators was selected through a multistage sampling process, in which five children per teacher's classroom were selected, resulting in a total of 1,010 children rated using the Early Development Instrument (EDI). The data for the study were gathered using the Psychological Capital Questionnaire, the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) Pre-K, and the EDI Teacher Version. The scores of five children per teacher were aggregated to measure teacher-level indicators of child developmental outcomes. Data analysis was done using Pearson product-moment correlation, multiple regression, and hierarchical multiple regression at the 0.05 level of significance. The results indicated significant positive correlations among the research variables. Psychological capital, emotional intelligence, and work engagement, both together and individually, made significant contributions to teaching effectiveness and teacher-rated children’s developmental outcomes. Teaching experience and school ownership also significantly moderated the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. This research therefore concludes that psychological capital, emotional intelligence, and work engagement are significant resources for teachers, contributing to teaching effectiveness and teacher-rated children’s developmental outcomes.
While existing literature recognises mentorship as an important strategy for leadership development, there is limited empirical understanding of how women experience and negotiate mentorship as they advance into school leadership in the South African context. Despite policy efforts to promote gender equity, women remain underrepresented in school leadership, and the role of mentorship in addressing this disparity remains insufficiently understood. This study explores mentorship as a relational mechanism through which women negotiate access, leadership identity, and social capital in their advancement into school leadership. An interpretive qualitative design, underpinned by a narrative phenomenological approach and informed by Social Capital Theory, was used to explore the experiences of six purposively selected women leaders from township schools in a single district in KwaZulu-Natal. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews and were analysed thematically. Participants reported that supportive mentoring relationships provided them with confidence, professional visibility, networking opportunities, leadership guidance, and encouragement to pursue leadership positions. Participants with limited access to mentorship described feelings of isolation, reduced access to leadership guidance, and fewer opportunities for professional development. They also reported seeking mentorship through external professional networks and women-centered spaces when support within their immediate school environments was limited. Some participants described mentoring relationships characterised by unequal power dynamics, limited trust, or inappropriate behaviour. Based on these accounts, the researchers interpret mentorship as an uneven, relational, and context-dependent mechanism through which women negotiate access to professional resources, leadership identity, and social capital. The findings suggest that mentorship can facilitate women's leadership development when relationships are supportive and trusting, but may also constrain agency when mentoring relationships reproduce hierarchical and gendered power relations. The study, therefore, extends understanding of mentorship by shifting attention from the mere availability of mentors to the relational, institutional, and power conditions that shape how mentorship is experienced and mobilised. Although limited by its small, context-specific sample, the study provides contextually grounded insights into mentorship and women's advancement into school leadership. It highlights the need for structured, responsive, and gender-sensitive mentoring opportunities.
Educational change requires educators to adapt to evolving pedagogical, technological, and organizational demands. This cross-sectional study examined associations among instructional leadership, psychological empowerment, perceived collective efficacy, and adaptive performance among 401 educators recruited through convenience sampling from three public and private schools in Sulu Province, Philippines. Partial least squares structural equation modeling showed no significant direct association between instructional leadership and adaptive performance. Instructional leadership was nevertheless indirectly associated with adaptive performance through psychological empowerment, perceived collective efficacy, and the theoretically specified sequence involving both variables. The coefficient for the indirect association through perceived collective efficacy was numerically larger than those for the other indirect pathways, although the differences between indirect effects were not formally tested. The findings are consistent with the hypothesized indirect-association model but do not establish mediation as a temporal or causal process. Because the data were cross-sectional, self-reported, and nonprobability-based, the results apply to the participating educators and should not be generalized to Philippine educators as a whole.
Traditional statistical models face the challenges of insufficient modeling capabilities and difficulty in interpreting complex, nonlinear, and high-dimensional data. Therefore, this paper combines fuzzy logic and deep learning methods to construct a framework model for identifying key factors for high-quality employment for college students. The model in this paper uses multi-channel encoding technology. We use the attention mechanism to fuse the features obtained from multi-channel encoding and input the self-organizing fuzzy inference structure for regression and classification analysis. The system can transform numerical prediction results into a semantic rule-driven decision-making process, which can significantly improve the model’s modeling capabilities and interpretability for uncertainty. Our experiments were conducted on 5,623 graduates. Experimental results on the data show that our model achieved an average mean square error of 0.831, a coefficient of determination of 0.892, and a classification accuracy of 0.865, which are significantly higher than traditional statistical and machine learning models. The corresponding experiments demonstrate the key role of cross-modal fusion and fuzzy reasoning modules in improving the results. Feature importance analysis shows that factors such as internship duration, GPA, and research participation have a key impact on high-quality employment, which is consistent with expert consensus.
This study aimed to analyze the mediating role of parent–school interaction disturbance in the relationship between parental job burnout and children’s academic burnout among workers in the petrochemical industries of Ardabil. A descriptive correlational design using structural equation modeling was employed with a sample of 218 working parents. Standardized instruments were used to assess parental job burnout, parent–school interaction, and children’s academic burnout. The results showed that parental job burnout had a positive and significant effect on parent–school interaction disturbance and children’s academic burnout. Parent–school interaction disturbance also had a positive and significant effect on children’s academic burnout. In addition, the indirect effect of parental job burnout on children’s academic burnout through parent–school interaction disturbance was statistically significant, confirming partial mediation. The findings indicate that the consequences of parental job burnout may extend beyond the occupational domain and affect children’s educational experiences. The study highlights the importance of reducing parental occupational stress and strengthening the relationship between families and schools as relevant strategies for preventing children’s academic burnout.
Psychosocial risks are an important occupational health concern and may be associated with emotional exhaustion through psychological mechanisms related to employees’ appraisal of adverse working conditions. This secondary analysis used a quantitative, cross-sectional design and data from 458 university employees to examine the mediating role of perceived stress and the moderating role of resilience in the association between psychosocial risks and emotional exhaustion. Correlation, mediation, and moderation analyses were performed, with bootstrap estimation based on 10,000 resamples. Greater psychosocial risk was associated with higher perceived stress and emotional exhaustion, whereas resilience was associated with lower perceived stress. Perceived stress partially mediated the association between psychosocial risks and emotional exhaustion, accounting for approximately 32.5% of the total association. The stress–resilience interaction was statistically significant in the unadjusted model, although its incremental contribution was small (ΔR² = 0.004); after adjustment for sociodemographic and occupational covariates, the interaction retained a similar direction but did not reach conventional statistical significance (p = 0.058). The model accounted for 59.6% of the variance in emotional exhaustion. Given the cross-sectional design, these findings represent statistical associations and do not establish temporal or causal relationships. The results support considering organizational psychosocial conditions, perceived stress, and resilience jointly when examining occupational well-being among university employees.
The purpose of this paper is to identify the strategies for developing and unlocking the professional capability and capacity of senior hospital managers in Nepal. This research is the first published study outlining the self-perspectives of Nepalese senior hospital managers on their capability and capacity development. The study utilised a qualitative descriptive design as the second phase of a larger sequential mixed methods research project. Data were collected from 11 senior hospital managers through semi-structured interviews conducted online via the Zoom online videoconferencing platform between August to October 2024. Four key themes identified were: Stability, continuity and coherence; Practical and logistical constraints; Interference, conflict and control; and managing the mismatch between ability and expectations. Findings highlight breakages in work roles and pervasiveness of political and opportunistic individual actions alongside complex and lengthy bureaucratic processes that stifled senior public hospital managers working roles. Along with well-organised administrative procedures, appropriate compliance training for senior hospital managers is sought essential. Findings from this study may be broadly applicable to other under resourced countries in the Asia Pacific region.
The article is devoted to substantiating the structural components of stress resilience of future managers in the process of professional training in institutions of professional pre- higher education. The relevance of the study is determined by the growing demands on the professional activity of a modern manager, which is characterized by high responsibility, the dynamic nature of management processes, the need for prompt decision-making, constructive interaction with people, and effective functioning under conditions of constant change and psycho- emotional workload. Based on the analysis of scientific sources, it has been established that there is no unified approach to determining the structure of stress resilience in contemporary psychological and pedagogical literature. Depending on their conceptual foundations, researchers focus on its emotional, cognitive, behavioral, motivational, and personal characteristics. In this study, stress resilience is considered as a form of psychological resilience that ensures an individual’s ability to adapt effectively to the influence of stressors, maintain the productivity of professional activity, and act constructively in complex managerial situations. The author’s structure of stress resilience of future managers has been substantiated, comprising motivational-value, cognitive- behavioral, emotional-regulatory, and reflexive-communicative components. It has been established that the motivational-value component determines an individual’s orientation towards developing their own stress resilience and awareness of its professional significance; the cognitive-behavioral component characterizes the level of knowledge about the nature of stress and the ability to apply effective ways of coping with it; the emotional-regulatory component ensures self-control, emotional balance, and the ability to act under conditions of psychological tension; the reflexive-communicative component is associated with self-analysis of professional activity, constructive interaction within a team, and readiness for personal and professional self-improvement. The proposed component structure can be used as a theoretical basis for developing criteria, indicators, pedagogical conditions, and a model for developing stress resilience in future managers.
Peer feedback is a process where employees provide constructive input, based on their observations and interactions, with their colleagues. This feedback can encompass various aspects of an individual's performance, such as behavior, communication skills, and contributions to team dynamics. Peer feedback typically aims to offer valuable insights, promote personal growth, and enhance teamwork within an organization. It often involves both positive and constructive criticism, fostering a culture of continuous improvement. This approach helps employees gain a better understanding of their strengths and areas needing development, ultimately contributing to their professional development and the overall success of the organization. Peer feedback is an essential component of a 360-degree feedback system, offering a holistic view of an individual's performance.
This qualitative study examines how K–12 educational leaders describe and make sense of their leadership practices related to instructional support, evaluation and improvement strategies, collaborative relationships and trust, and parent and community engagement. Drawing on open-ended survey responses from practicing school and district leaders, the study employs inductive thematic analysis to explore leadership efficacy as enacted through daily practice rather than expressed solely as an abstract belief. Guided by Bandura’s self-efficacy theory, Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, and transformational leadership theory as interpretive lenses, leaders’ narratives are situated within the relational and contextual systems shaping leadership work. Findings reveal a coherent, practice-oriented leadership narrative grounded in collaboration, trust-building, reflective practice, and responsiveness to local context. Instructional leadership and evaluation were consistently framed as growth-oriented, relational processes, while collaborative relationships and trust emerged as foundational conditions enabling leadership practice across domains. Parent and community engagement was described as a reciprocal, boundary-spanning function rooted in communication, visibility, and partnership. Collectively, the findings position leadership efficacy as a relational and contextually embedded practice and highlight implications for leadership preparation and professional learning.
This study investigated assistant principals’ self-perceptions of their role as instructional leaders and examined the corresponding perceptions of principals. Grounded in Weber's (1996) instructional leadership model and using the Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale (PIMRS), this quantitative study surveyed assistant principals and principals from a large suburban district. Findings reveal a gap: assistant principals rated themselves higher in instructional leadership than their principals. The results indicate that the assistant principal role requires a clearer definition, targeted professional development, and leadership succession planning. These findings offer implications for educational leadership training and school district practices.
Effective school leadership is vital to school management, teacher performance, and quality education. This study examined the leadership skills, core behavioral skills, and administrative practices of public secondary school heads in the Schools Division of Cagayan de Oro City during the school year 2025–2026. It assessed key leadership and behavioral competencies and determined their relationships with administrative practices. A descriptive-correlational design was used, with universal sampling of 105 school heads. Data were gathered through a standardized questionnaire anchored on the Results-Based Performance Management System and the Philippine Professional Standards for School Heads. Frequency, percentage, weighted mean, standard deviation, and Pearson correlation were used. Findings showed high levels of leadership skills, core behavioral skills, and administrative practices. People development was the strongest leadership dimension, while teamwork and innovation were the most evident core behavioral competencies. Managing school operations and resources, and focusing on teaching and learning, were among the strongest administrative practices. The study found significant positive relationships between leadership skills and administrative practices, and between core behavioral skills and administrative practices. The study concludes that effective school leadership requires a combination of people leadership, professional behavior, instructional leadership, strategic management, and administrative competence. It recommends needs-based leadership development, mentoring and coaching, stronger results-focused practices, ongoing instructional leadership training, stakeholder engagement, reflective practice, and individualized professional development plans to support the continued growth of school heads.
This mixed-methods study had two aims: to determine the purpose of school administrators’ use of social media and to develop and validate a scale measuring those purposes. In the qualitative phase, 15 school principals were interviewed individually, and the social media accounts of five principals were analyzed to identify purposes of use. In the second phase, an instrument was developed and validated across two independent samples of school administrators attending separate in-service training programs organized by the Turkish Ministry of National Education (MONE). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA; n = 156), using principal axis factoring with direct oblimin rotation, revealed a three-factor structure: stakeholder communication, personal use, and professional development, accounting for 65.52% of the total variance. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA; n = 148) supported the factor structure with satisfactory model fit (χ²/df = 1.60, CFI = .955, RMSEA = .064). Convergent and discriminant validity were established through average variance extracted, composite reliability, McDonald’s omega, and the Fornell–Larcker criterion.
