The Influence of Moral Integrity, Procedural Justice, and Trust on Leadership Legitimacy in Indonesian Islamic Boarding Schools

Abstrak

Leadership legitimacy has become an essential element in strengthening governance and organizational sustainability in Indonesian Islamic boarding schools (pesantren). Although the authority of kyai has traditionally been rooted in religious and cultural legitimacy, contemporary educational governance increasingly requires leadership that demonstrates moral integrity, procedural justice, and trust. This study aimed to examine the influence of moral integrity, procedural justice, and trust on leadership legitimacy in Indonesian Islamic boarding schools. A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted involving 412 teachers and senior students from selected pesantren across Indonesia. Data were collected using validated questionnaires and analyzed through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results showed that the proposed model explained 72.8% of the variance in leadership legitimacy (R² = 0.728). Moral integrity exerted the strongest positive influence on leadership legitimacy (β = 0.431, p < 0.001), followed by trust (β = 0.357, p < 0.001) and procedural justice (β = 0.296, p < 0.001). The structural model also demonstrated an acceptable model fit (CFI = 0.965; TLI = 0.957; RMSEA = 0.046; SRMR = 0.041), indicating that the proposed conceptual framework adequately represented the observed data. These findings suggest that leadership legitimacy in pesantren is strengthened through the integration of ethical leadership, fair organizational procedures, and trusting relationships. The study contributes to educational leadership literature by providing empirical evidence on the antecedents of leadership legitimacy in Islamic boarding schools and offers practical recommendations for enhancing governance, accountability, and stakeholder confidence in faith-based educational institutions.