Principal Leadership as a Construction of Teacher Work Culture
A Study of Meaning in Public Junior High Schools in Gatak District, Sukoharjo Regency
Keywords:
School leadership, Teacher work culture, Meaning of leadership, Junior high school, Phenomenology
Abstract
This study aims to analyze how the leadership of school principals in building the work culture of phenomenological studies teachers in Indonesian junior high schools. The research method uses a qualitative approach with a Husserlian transcendental phenomenological design of data collection techniques carried out by observation, interviewing and documenting 47 informants purposively, then analyzed using three thematic isolation techniques (holistic, selective, in-depth). The validity of the data is guaranteed through triangulation, member checking, and bracketing. The results show that the meaning of leadership has metamorphosed from an administrative manager to a performative moral role model and a transformative agent. The institutionalization of work culture forms a stable habitus through the mechanism of behavioral enculturation, ritualistic internalization, and habituation structuring. From a teacher's perspective, a positive work culture is catalyzed by relational-distributive leadership, procedural fairness, and psychological safe spaces. However, its optimization in the field is hampered by bureaucratic constraints (administrative overload), resistance of senior teachers, and limited infrastructure, which is contrary to supporting factors such as the positive quality of the Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) relationship.
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References
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Aziizah, D. R. (2018). The Influence of Principal's Leadership Style and Organizational Culture on Teacher Performance with Job Satisfaction. Industrial Engineering Journal, 7(2), 18–23.
Badaruddin, K. (2023). The Influence of Principal Leadership and Teacher Work Culture on Teacher Performance. Intizar, 29, 168–175. https://doi.org/10.19109/intizar.v29i2.20831
Berhanu, K. Z. (2025). The relationship between principals' pedagogical leadership practices and teachers' job performance: the role of sociodemographic characteristics. BMC Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-025-02415-7
Berkovich, I., & Hassan, T. (2023). Principals' digital transformational leadership, teachers' commitment, and school effectiveness. Education Inquiry, 16, 177–194. https://doi.org/10.1080/20004508.2023.2173705
Darlima. (2017). The Influence of Teacher Professionalism, Principal's Leadership and Organizational Culture on Teacher Performance at SMP Negeri 14 Palembang. Journal of Global Ecology, 2, 63–72.
Gibson, J. L., Ivancevich, J. M., James H. Donnelly, J., & Konopaske, R. (2009). Organizations: Behavior, Structure, Processes. McGraw-Hill.
Gumilao, J. D., & Dagondon, L. M. B. (2026). A phenomenological study of school heads' lived experiences between teaching-learning and school administration. 5(3), 209–218. https://doi.org/10.47540/ijqr.v5i3.2349
Gumilet, G. G., Afalla, B. T., & Dangis, S. J. (2021). Building a synergy between mentors' field practices and teacher- trainees ' performance in student teaching. International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education (IJERE), 10(3), 1060–1071. https://doi.org/10.11591/ijere.v10i3.21532
Handayani, E., Lian, B., & Rohana. (2021). Teacher Performance is Reviewed From the Influence of Organizational Culture and the Principal's Leadership Style. JMKSP (Journal of Management, Leadership, and Supervision of Education), 6(1).
Hite, R. L., Milbourne, J. D., & Hite, R. L. (2022). Professional Development in Education Divining the professional development experiences of K-12 STEM master teacher leaders in the United States Divining the professional development experiences of K-12 STEM master teacher leaders in the United States ABSTRACT. Professional Development in Education, 48(3), 476–492. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2021.1955733
Indra, R., Kustati, M., Saregar, A., Warnis, Nelmawarni, & Yusuf, Y. (2020). The Effect of Principals' Leadership towards Effective Learning at an Indonesian Secondary School. European Journal of Educational Research, 9, 1063–1074. https://doi.org/10.12973/eu-jer.9.3.1063
Jorge, K. (2021). British Educational Res J - 2020 - To Freire or not to Freire Educational freedom and the populist right‐wing .pdf. British Educational Research Journal, 47(2), 355–371. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3667
Kalkan, Ü., Aksal, F. A., Gazi, Z. A., Atasoy, R., & Dagli, G. (2020). The Relationship Between School Administrators' Leadership Styles, School Culture, and Organizational Image. SAGE Open, 10. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020902081
Khaola, P., & Oni, F. (2020). The influence of school principals' leadership behaviour and act of fairness on innovative work behaviours amongst teachers. SA Journal of Human Resource Management. https://doi.org/10.4102/sajhrm.v18i0.1417
Joy, M. A. D., Ham, J., & Daniel, N. B. (2024). Teachers' commitment and leadership behavior as correlates of academic performance. Journal of Education and Learning (EduLearn), 18(2), 598–608. https://doi.org/10.11591/edulearn.v18i2.21083
Marlin, Y., & Gistituati, N. (2025). The Meaning of Transformational Leadership for Teachers: a Phenomenological study at SMP Negeri 2 Danau Paris. 10(4), 1931–1937.
Meidelina, O., Saleh, A. Y., Cathlin, C. A., & Winesa, S. A. (2023). Transformational leadership and teacher well-being : A systematic review. Journal of Education and Learning (EduLearn), 17(3), 417–424. https://doi.org/10.11591/edulearn.v17i3.20858
Pardosi, J., & Watts, T. I. (2021). Effective principal leadership behaviors to improve the teacher performance and the student achievement. F1000Research, 10. https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.51549.2
Rahmawati, A., Rosdiana, D., & Novitasari, D. (2023). The Influence of Leadership and Organizational Culture on Teacher Performance: Narrative Literature Review. JISMA: Journal Of Information Systems And Management, 02(03), 41–48.
Rifa'i, A. A. (2020). The Influence of Principal Transformational Leadership and Work Culture on Teacher Performance Improvement. Indonesian Journal of Education Management and Administration Review, 4(1).
Sahir, syafrida hafni. (2022). Research Methodology (TRI Koryati (ed.)). KBM Indonesia Publisher.
Saputra, H. Y., & Hidayati, D. (2024). The role of principal leadership in developing levels of resilience : a private senior secondary school ethnographic study. Journal of Education and Learning (EduLearn), 18(4), 1486–1494. https://doi.org/10.11591/edulearn.v18i4.21286
Selfiati, F., Lian, B., & Wardarita, R. (2021). The Influence of Principal Leadership and Organizational Culture on the Performance of Junior High School Teachers in Sako District, Palembang. Journal of Education, 9(1), 1–10.
Sidabutar, R. U. O., Lie, D., Efendi, & Inrawan, A. (2017). The Influence of Principal Leadership and School Culture on Teacher Performance at SMP Negeri 1 Panei. SULTANIST Journal, 6(2), 38–46.
Soelistya, D. (2024). Empowering teachers : The impact of transformational leadership and teacher competence on performance through organizational commitment. Journal of Educational Management and Instruction, 4(1), 159–173.
Sulistiasih, S., & Widodo, W. (2025). Unlocking teachers' organizational citizenship behavior: exploring compensation in transmitting visionary leadership. Journal of Education and Learning (EduLearn), 19(2), 724–732. https://doi.org/10.11591/edulearn.v19i2.21498
Tangente, S. L. (2025). " Leading without a map ": The impact of non-managerial academic heads on educational leadership. Journal of Educational Management and Instruction, 5(1), 213–229.
Tran, H.-N., Nguyen, C., Nguyen, G.-V., Ho, T., Bui, Q.-T. T., & Hoang, N. (2020). Workplace conditions created by principals for their teachers' professional development in Vietnam. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 25, 238–257. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603124.2019.1708472
Traver-Martí, J. A., Ballesteros-Velázquez, B., Beldarrain, N. O., & Máiquez, M. C. C. (2021). Leading the curriculum towards social change: Distributed leadership and the inclusive school. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 51, 554–574. https://doi.org/10.1177/1741143221991849
Interview. (2025). Interview Results (November Issue, pp. 1–2).
Yagan, E., Özgenel, M., & Baydar, F. (2022). Professional self - understanding of teachers in different career stages : a phenomenological analysis. Bmc: Psychology, 10(57), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-022-00769-w
Zhu, R., Alias, B. S., Izham, M., Hamzah, M., & Wahab, J. A. (2025). Digital leadership in education : a systematic review. Journal of Education and Learning (EduLearn), 19(3), 1474–1483. https://doi.org/10.11591/edulearn.v19i3.22187
Published
2026-06-02
How to Cite
Soadikin, Ahmad, and Syamsul Rohmadi. FiTUA: JURNAL STUDI ISLAM 7, no. 1 (June 2, 2026): 75-86. Accessed June 5, 2026. http://ejournal.stitbima.ac.id/index.php/fitua/article/view/1185.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Ahmad Soadikin, Syamsul Huda Rohmadi
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