Intrinsic Motivation and School Climate as Predictors of Teacher Performance in Rural Indonesian Schools
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12928/ijemi.v7i2.14580Keywords:
Intrinsic motivation, Rural education, School climate, Teacher performance, Self-Determination TheoryAbstract
Background/purpose. Teacher performance is a critical determinant of educational quality, yet it remains challenged by declining motivation and suboptimal work environments, particularly in developing countries.
Materials/methods. This study examined the influence of intrinsic motivation and school climate on teacher performance among 72 public junior high school teachers in Empat Lawang District, South Sumatra, Indonesia, using a quantitative cross-sectional survey design. Data were collected through validated questionnaires (intrinsic motivation: α = .960; school climate: α = .866; teacher performance: α = .938) and analyzed using Pearson correlation and multiple regression.
Results. Both predictors demonstrated strong positive correlations with teacher performance (intrinsic motivation: r = .907; school climate: r = .826; p < .001). Simple regression revealed that intrinsic motivation accounted for 82.3% of the variance in performance (R² = .823), while school climate accounted for 68.1% of the variance (R² = .681). Multiple regression indicated that both variables jointly explained 84.2% of the variance (R² = .842, F = 183.326, p < .001), with intrinsic motivation emerging as the dominant predictor (β = .707) relative to school climate (β = .243).
Conclusion. These findings suggest that improving teacher effectiveness in resource-constrained rural settings requires prioritizing professional autonomy and competency development alongside a supportive organizational climate.
References
Akgöz, E.E., Şahin, F., & Erdoğan, O. (2024). The mediating role of school climate in the relationship between school principals' instructional leadership behaviors and teacher autonomy. International Journal of Educational Management, 38(4), 789–805.
Allen, W., Hyde, M., Whannel, R., & O'Neill, M. (2018). Teacher reform in Indonesia: Can offshore programs create lasting pedagogical shifts? Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 46(3), 256–273.
Baharuddin, B., & Burhan, B. (2025). Urban and rural teacher perspectives on Indonesian educational reform: Challenges and policy implications. Cogent Education , 12(1), 2301847.
Bukhari, S., Jamali, SG, Larik, AR, & Chang, MS (2023). Fostering intrinsic motivation among teachers: Importance of work environment and individual differences. International Journal of School and Educational Psychology, 11(3), 234–248.
Charlton, C.T., Moulton, S., Sabey, C.V., & West, R. (2021). A systematic review of the effects of schoolwide intervention programs on student and teacher perceptions of school climate. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 23(3), 165–180.
Chimbi, G., Chimbunde, P., & Moreen, B.B. (2025). Complex matrices between teacher well-being and learner performance in rural education ecosystems. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 24(1), 89–107.
Çoğaltay, N., & Boz, A. (2023). Influence of school leadership on collective teacher efficacy: A cross-cultural meta-analysis. Asia Pacific Education Review, 24(2), 267-284.
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Erdem, C., & Koçyiğit, M. (2025). The interplay among school climate, instructional quality, and teacher job satisfaction: Mediation of teacher motivation—International Journal of Educational Development, 114, Article 103233.
George, D., & Mallery, P. (2024). IBM SPSS statistics 29 step by step: A simple guide and reference. routledge.
Gill, C. H. D., & Berezina, E. (2020). School performance in three Southeast Asian countries: lessons in leadership, decision-making, and training. European Journal of Training and Development, 44(6/7), 605–620.
Giri, D.R., Neupane, B.P., Dahal, N., & Subedi, D. (2025). Enhancing school performance through whole school intervention: A case study—Frontiers in Education, 10, 1533586.
Gningue, S. M., Peach, R., Jarrah, A. M., & Wardat, Y. (2022). The relationship between teacher leadership and school climate: Findings from a teacher-leadership project. Educational Sciences , 12(11), 749.
Gorozidis, G. S., Papaioannou, A. G., & Christodoulidis, T. (2021). Measuring teacher perceptions of their task-initiated achievement goals. International Journal of Educational Research, 110, 101866.
Hair, JF, Black, WC, Babin, BJ, & Anderson, RE (2019). Multivariate data analysis (8th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Hanim, Z., Saleh, M., Soe'oed, R., Permatasari, BI, & Fhaeizdhyall, A. (2020). Interaction effect of teacher certification and principal leadership styles towards teacher performance: Empirical evidence of elementary school at Berau district of East Kalimantan province, Indonesia. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 7(12), 89-96.
Harjanto, I., Lie, A., Wihardini, D., Pryor, L., & Wilson, M. (2018). Community-based teacher professional development in remote areas in Indonesia. Journal of Education for Teaching, 44(2), 212–231.
Hoy, W. K., & Miskel, C. G. (2002). Theory and Research in Educational Administration. Research and Theory in Educational Administration. Information Age Publishing, Inc., 80 Mason Street, Greenwich, CT 06830 (paperback: ISBN-1-931576-04-1; hardcover: ISBN-1-931576-05-X).
Huda, W., Raharjo, T., Suharini, E., & Prihatin, T. (2024). Organisational culture and self-efficacy are key factors in work motivation and leadership. Qubahan Academic Journal, 4(2), 590–601.
Irnidayanti, Y., Maulana, R., Helms-Lorenz, M., & Fadhilah, N. (2020). Relationship between teaching motivation and teaching behaviour of secondary education teachers in Indonesia. Infancia y Aprendizaje , 43(3), 650–685.
Johanson, G. A., & Brooks, G. P. (2010). Initial scale development: Sample size for pilot studies. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 70(3), 394–400.
Kotherja, O., & Hamzallari, B. (2022). The influence of socio-demographic variables on teachers' job performance. Cypriot Journal of Educational Sciences, 17(10), 3726–3738.
Kouhsari, M., Chen, J., & Baniasad, S. (2023). Multilevel analysis of teacher professional well-being and its influential factors based on TALIS data. Research in Comparative and International Education, 18(1), 123–141.
Kusanagi, K. N. (2022). Teacher professional development in Indonesia: Issues and challenges. In Education in the Asia-Pacific Region (pp. 245–267). Springer.
Kusumawardhani, P. (2017). Does a teacher certification program lead to better quality teachers? Evidence from Indonesia. Educational Economics, 25(6), 590–618.
Leal-Soto, F., Ferrer-Urbina, R., Alonso-tapia, J., Dörr, A., & Peredo, R. (2023). Student or teacher? Its relevance to the classroom motivational climate and motivation-performance. Revista de Psicologia, 41(1), 197–223.
Long, C., Li, C., Huang, G., & Fu, J. (2024). How to better promote teaching? Unveiling the links between professional learning communities and intrinsic motivation among foreign language teachers. Heliyon , 10(15), e35420.
Maharaj, N., & Chauke, T. A. (2025). Teachers' challenges in the rural schools in South Africa. Educational Process: International Journal, 14(1), 23–41.
Manzano-Sánchez, D., Gómez-Mármol, A., Valero-Valenzuela, A., & Jiménez-Parra, J. F. (2021). School climate and responsibility as predictors of antisocial and prosocial behaviours and violence: a study towards self-determination theory. Behavioral Sciences, 11(3), 36.
Marcelino, R. (2025). Beyond winning in physical Education: The role of continuing professional development in fostering a learning‐focused climate. British Educational Research Journal, 51(5), 2474–2490.
Melguizo-Ibáñez, E., Puertas-Molero, P., González Valero, G., & Alonso-Vargas, J. M. (2025). Analysis of the effect of active breaks on executive function in educational settings. A systematic review and meta-analysis. Quest, 77(2), 175–196.
Mohzana, M., & Zuana, MMM (2025). Comprehensive analysis of the impact of certification on teacher performance and student learning achievement. Munaddhomah , 7(1), 45-62.
Nalipay, M. J. N. (2023). What aspects of school climate matter most to Asian teachers' job satisfaction and well-being? Evidence from the TALIS 2018. Teachers College Record, 125(8), 134-156.
Nawas, A., Darmawan, IGN, & Maadad, N. (2025). Certified to succeed? Multilevel analysis of the effects of teacher certification on educator well-being and student outcomes in Indonesia. Teaching and Teacher Education, 148, 104307.
Ozdogru, M., Sarier, Y., & Korucuoglu, T. (2025). How leadership and school climate influence student achievement: Evidence from a comparative meta-analysis. Educational Process: International Journal, 14(1), 7–26.
Palacios Mena, N., & Jiménez, J. (2024). Doing research in the rural school: Colombian schoolteachers' experiences as researchers and their expectations toward a research-based formation: teaching and Teacher Education, 138, 104162.
Rahmah, M., Noermijati, N., Sudiro, A., & Rahayu, M. (2022). Spiritual work motivation in mediating the influence of organisational climate on teacher performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences, 43(3), 742-748.
Revina, S., Pramana, R., Bjork, C., & Suryadarma, D. (2023). Replacing the old with the new: Long-term issues of teacher professional development reforms in Indonesia. Asian Education and Development Studies, 12(4), 389–404.
Rhinesmith, E., Anglum, J. C., Park, A., & Burrola, A. (2023). Recruiting and retaining teachers in rural schools: A systematic review of the literature. Peabody Journal of Education, 98(4), 456–475.
Ridwan, A., Hendra, R., Guillén-Gámez, FD, García-Magariño, I., & Setambah, MAB (2024). Instructional leadership and teacher self-efficacy on job satisfaction: The mediating effect of school climate in Indonesian Islamic senior high schools. Scientific Journal of Applied Sciences, University of Jambi, 8(1), 23–34.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions and new directions. Contemporary educational psychology, 25(1), 54–67.
Sari, IN, & Kismiantini. (2023). The school climate in mathematics achievement: Findings from PISA 2018 Indonesia. AIP Conference Proceedings, 2540(1), 030005.
Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2019). Using multivariate statistics (7th ed.). Pearson.
Tripathi, A., Chaturvedi, K.R., & Tripathi, A.P. (2018). Assessing the influence of intrinsic motivation on academic performance: A study of management teachers. Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 26(4), 2787–2802.
Triwiyanto, W., Rokhman, F., Sutarto, J., & Suminar, T. (2025). The mediating role of self-efficacy and the moderating impact of organisational climate: A case study for improving teacher well-being through leadership and meaningful work. Retos, 58, 234–248.
Widyaningsih, H., Darmawan, R., & Pelana, R. (2021). Influence of organisational climate and teaching motivation on the performance of physical education teachers. Journal of Physical Education and Sport, 21(4), 1932-1938.
Williams, H., Williamson, J., & Siebert, C. (2022). Exploring perceptions related to teacher retention issues in rural Western United States. Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, 32(2), 45–62.
Wyatt, M. (2013). Motivating teachers in the developing world: Insights from research with English language teachers in Oman. International Review of Education, 59(2), 217–242.
Zamora-Rodríguez, D.R., Morquecho-Sánchez, R., Delgado-Herrada, M.I., Acosta-Mercado, E., & Acosta-González, A.L. (2025). Factors that influence the organisational climate in Education: A systematic review. Cuadernos de Psicologia del Deporte , 25(1), 89–104.
Zhao, M., & Jin, R. (2023). Advancing a cross-cultural understanding of teacher perceptions of school climate: A latent class analysis using 2018 TALIS data—Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1104637.
Zheng, L., Qi, X., & Zhang, C. (2023). Can improvements in teacher quality reduce the cognitive gap between urban and rural students in China? International Journal of Educational Development, 95, 102651.
Zou, H., Yao, J., Zhang, Y., & Huang, X. (2024). The influence of teachers' intrinsic motivation on students' intrinsic motivation: The mediating role of teachers' motivating style and teacher-student relationships. Psychology in the Schools, 61(4), 1456–1472.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Herli Herli, Sudarwan Danim, Asti Putri Kartiwi; Azizatul Khairi
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The copyright to this article is transferred to Universitas Ahmad Dahlan (UAD) if and when the article is accepted for publication. The undersigned hereby transfers any rights in and to the paper including without limitation all copyrights to UAD. The undersigned hereby represents and warrants that the paper is original and that he/she is the author of the paper, except for material that is identified as to its source, with permission notices from the copyright owners where required. The undersigned represents that he/she has the power and authority to make and execute this assignment.
We declare that:
This paper has not been published in the same form elsewhere.
It will not be submitted anywhere else for publication before acceptance/rejection by this Journal.
Copyright permission is obtained for materials published elsewhere and which require this permission for reproduction.
Furthermore, I/We hereby transfer the unlimited rights of publication of the above-mentioned paper in whole to UAD. The copyright transfer covers the exclusive right to reproduce and distribute the article, including reprints, translations, photographic reproductions, microform, electronic form (offline, online), or any other reproductions of similar nature.
The corresponding author signs for and accepts responsibility for releasing this material on behalf of any and all co-authors. This agreement is to be signed by at least one of the authors who have obtained the assent of the co-author(s) where applicable. After submission of this agreement signed by the corresponding author, changes of authorship or in the order of the authors listed will not be accepted.
Retained Rights/Terms and Conditions
Authors retain all proprietary rights in any process, procedure, or article of manufacture described in the Work.
Authors may reproduce or authorize others to reproduce the Work or derivative works for the authors' personal use or for company use, provided that the source and the UAD copyright notice are indicated, the copies are not used in any way that implies UAD endorsement of a product or service of any employer, and the copies themselves are not offered for sale.
Although authors are permitted to re-use all or portions of the Work in other works, this does not include granting third-party requests for reprinting, republishing, or other types of re-use.
