Elevating teachers’ performance through locus of control, leadership style, environmental factors, and work motivation

: The roles of teachers as educators are to impart knowledge and skills to students, as well as develop their mental character. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the influence of locus of control, leadership style, environmental factors, and work motivation on teachers’ performance in guiding students toward a higher level of education. A sample size of 720 high school teachers was used to explore the perceptions of locus of control, leadership style, environmental factors, and work motivation on performance. Furthermore, the data were analyzed using the Smart-Partial Least Square software. The results showed a direct effect of locus of control, leadership style, and environmental factors on work motivation. Moreover, there was an effect of locus of control, environmental factors, and work motivation on teachers’ performance. These results highlight the necessity for qualified teachers, which the government of Indonesia needs to fulfill in order to achieve a better education across the country.


Introduction
The current situation in Indonesia shows universities can only accommodate around 38% of high school and vocational school graduates annually (Dikti, 2018).This creates a growing need for competent and effective teachers in society, as only school graduates can continue to higher education.To address this issue, schools are expected to provide a quality learning process that facilitates academic gain (Mutohar & Trisnantari, 2020).
A quality school administration is not only influenced by teachers' performance (TP) but also backed by other factors outlined in the National Education Convention.These factors include the curriculum, learning process, graduate capability, teachers and education staff, facilities and framework, administration, fiscal, and education assessment (The President Republic of Indonesia, 2005a).However, this study examined practical teacher standards as the only component of the national education standards in Indonesia.
The quality of education in schools is influenced by several variables, such as the principal's leadership in managing resources, processes, and motivation (Fitrah, 2017).Furthermore, leadership nature, administrative support, networking, and a useful environment determine teachers' performance (Fauzan et al., 2023).Teachers are successful in creating a conducive environment when they provide services that meet the needs of the school's residents (Magulod, 2017).According to Jamal (2014), leadership style in the school environment is vital in improving performance.Meanwhile, Magulod (2017), suggested that both internal and external collaborative efforts are the path to achieving effective schools.Gibson et al. (2012) stated that the variables affecting performance and job satisfaction are followers, locus of control, experience, ability, leadership style, environmental factors, tasks, formal authority system, workgroup, and motivation.The current study focuses on five specific variables, namely locus of control (LC), leadership style (LS), environment factor (EF), work motivation (WM), and teachers' performance (TP).
The influence of locus of control on job performance has produced mixed results in previous studies.Some studies showed a significant correlation between the two variables (Vishal, 2013;Kriswantini & Sososutiksno, 2020;Rachman et al., 2022), while others found no significant correlation (Siregar & Nahumury, 2015;Rakhman et al., 2021).A study on high school teachers in Jakarta and its surroundings concluded that work motivation has no effect on teachers' achievement (Mulyana et al., 2021).Embang et al. (2022) also concluded that work environment does not affect the achievement of secondary school teachers in the Philippines.In contrast, a study in Edo and Delta states of Nigeria found that work motivation influenced the achievement of Educators (Owenvbiugie & Ekhaise, 2019).In addition, work achievement influenced the independence of vocational high school teachers in East Java (Wahyudi et al., 2022).
To understand the variations of these results, studies are expected to examine the potential role of other variables that affect teachers' performance.In the context of the public school system in Indonesia, there is a limited study that examines the role of intervening variables, specifically work motivation in schools.Therefore, this study utilized the concepts of leadership roles, work environments, and motivation to understand their influence on teachers' performance.Notably, the study apparatus were developed based on variable indicators.The results were analyzed using Exploratory Factor Analysis to identify similar items on the dimensions.Also, the variables were obtained through a questionnaire filled out by stakeholders, and the five variables with the highest number of votes were selected.In contrast to other surveys that used only one software program, this study utilized two software packages, namely SPSS 24 and Smart-PLS.Smart-Partial Least Square was used to obtain valid and reliable data with a sig of > .70.This study is expected to shed some light on the field of education in Indonesia.
The four variables were analyzed to resolve their influence on teachers' performance through the following study questions: 1. Do teachers' locus of control, leadership style, and environmental factors directly influence their work motivation? 2. Do teachers' locus of control, leadership style, environmental factors, and work motivation directly influence their performance?3. Do teachers' locus of control, leadership style, and work environment indirectly influence their performance through work motivation?

Teachers' performance
According to Teodorović (2009), motivation, stability, and the principal's leadership style, influenced teachers' performance.Furthermore, a good school environment, the principal's leadership, teachers' professionalism, and a healthy relationship between the school and home are essential for enhancing teachers' performance (Magulod, 2017).Professional teachers have a clear understanding of their duties and responsibilities (Hartiwi et al., 2020).Moreover, Walker (2008) listed the twelve characteristics of effective teachers, namely preparedness, optimism, high expectations, creativity, fairness, approachability, cultivating a sense of belonging, empathy, playfulness, respect for students, forgiveness, and admitting aberration.These characteristics are similar to the four indicators of teacher competencies, namely professional, pedagogic, personal, and social (The President Republik of Indonesia, 2005b).Teachers are expected to possess proficiency in information and communication technology (Maksimović & Dimić, 2016).Therefore, teachers' performance refers to a specific set of behaviors demonstrated while working independently or in groups to achieve the targets outlined in their professional capability, pedagogic, personal, communal, mastery of information, and communication technology.

Locus of control
Locus of control is a belief that an individual's behavior or that of others is influenced by job performance.According to this concept, humans can be classified as having an internal or external locus of control.People who have an internal locus of control believe their success is a result of effort.Meanwhile, those with an external locus of control believe their success is dependent on others' efforts (Labhane et al., 2015).Employees with an internal locus of control tend to work alone and are highly motivated (Kalil et al., 2019).Therefore, they are a significant asset in achieving organizational performance (Sundjoto, 2017).Individuals with high locus of control are more likely to perform better (Bahçekapılı & Karaman, 2020).
Based on this description, locus of control can be defined as a specific pattern of employee behavior when working individually or in groups to achieve goals.Such behaviors include confidence, self-initiative, cooperation, responsibility, and hard work.The study hypotheses are as follows: H1: Locus of control has a direct effect on work motivation.

H2:
Locus of control has a direct effect on Teachers' performance.

Leadership style
Leadership styles can range from autocratic to democratic approaches.Even though some leaders adopt a more autocratic way to manage their subordinates, others use a very democratic approach.Some others adopt a combination of both styles, falling somewhere between the two extremes.Various approaches to leadership styles are described in a continuum of autocratic-democratic approaches (Quible, 2002).According to Colovic (2022), a leadership style can vary depending on the institution in which it is implemented (Fries et al., 2021).Moreover, it can significantly affect how subordinates work (Rabiul & Yean, 2021).
Based on this description, leadership style can be defined as a distinct pattern of a leader's behaviour in directing the subordinates, either individually or in groups, towards achieving the set goals.It is characterized by traits, such as self-confidence, respect for subordinates, expertise in directing, openness in decision making, and communication regarding all policies.The study hypotheses are as follows: H3: Leadership style has a direct effect on work motivation.

H4:
Leadership style has a direct effect on teachers' performance.

Environmental factors
The working environment refers to an organizational condition that provide complete structures and infrastructure, along with the social aspects, enabling workers to perform their duties in a profitable way.The main environmental factors include lighting, noise, temperature, and air quality (Bai & Wicaksono, 2020;Stelmach et al., 2016).There are three essential aspects of the work environment, namely the description of the workplace conditions, the location of the workplace, and the relevant characteristics of the workplace, such as hazards and noise levels (Ivancevich, 2010).The work environment includes infrastructure, communication, and technological support (Mullins, 2007).
Based on the above discussion, it can be concluded that the working environment encompasses the physical setting and an atmosphere that facilitate the execution of work.
The key indicators of favorable working environment include the comfort of the room, the completeness of work equipment, a comfortable working atmosphere, effective communication among organizational members, and between superiors and subordinates.The study hypotheses are as follows: H5: Environmental factor has a direct effect on work motivation.H6: Environmental factor directly affects teachers' performance.

Work motivation
Work motivation is essentially the urge to work, and it is triggered by internal and external factors through individual psychological processes, with the aim of achieving specific goals.Furthermore, motivation is a psychological process that forms a behavioral response to meet individuals' ultimate needs (Cromwell et al., 2020).Motivation can vary depending on the level of desire to achieve it, and is classified into two types, namely intrinsic and extrinsic (Demircioglu & Chen, 2019;Chai et al., 2017;Saether, 2019).According to Ahmed et al. (2021), it is an attitude and value that drives a person to act and be goal-oriented.Maslow's theory stated that humans are motivated based on their level of needs, including self-realization, self-esteem, social, security, and physiological needs (Shoib et al., 2022).
Work motivation is an impulse that arises in a person striving to achieve results, with indicators, such as eagerness to work, desire for rewards, liking work with personal responsibility, the desire to achieve work standards as well as to complete the task instantly.The study hypotheses are as follows: H7: Work motivation has a direct effect on teachers' performance.

H8: Locus of control indirectly affects work motivation on teachers' performance.
H9: Leadership style has an indirect effect through work motivation on teachers' performance.

H10:
The environmental factor has an indirect effect through work motivation on teachers' performance.

Conceptual model
The following are the points needed to be an effective teacher: (1) having high expectations of all students, (2) contributing to positive academics and diverse resources, (3) contributing to the development of classrooms and schools that value diversity or civic thinking, (4) as well as collaborating with others (Little et al., 2009).Moreover, effective teachers are expected to master four competencies identified by The President Republik of Indonesia (2005b), and should have proficiency in ICT (Maksimović & Dimić, 2016).The effectiveness of teachers' performance can be influenced by locus of control and work motivation (Kalil et al., 2019), as well as leadership style and work environment (Rahardjo, 2014;Rachmah et al., 2018).Based on the recommendations of relevant results, this study will use a conceptual model shown in Fig. 1 to analyze the exogenous variables.

Study design
This is a quantitative study, and the survey and data analysis were conducted using a path analysis model and Smart-PLS software.Furthermore, the sample data validation was carried out using Smart-PLS bootstrapping.The valid data are expected to meet the criteria of r > .70,therefore those with r < .70 were excluded from further analysis.This study was conducted from October 2020 to April 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic.The data were obtained using Google Form distributed to 800 teachers with public employee status.A total of 720 questionnaires were declared valid with complete answers.

Population and sampling
A random sampling technique was used to select 720 public high school teachers as sample.An adequate sample size for testing these hypotheses will result in an accurate analysis (Andrade, 2020).The teachers were selected from three provinces, namely Jakarta, West Java, and Tangerang, and were specifically those with civil servant status at state high schools.

Variables and instruments
The variables were determined based on a survey of stakeholders in the field of education, which consist of 50 principals, 30 school superintendents, 20 parent-teacher member associations, and 10 officials from the education office.Through a questionnaire containing various variables, one independent variable was chosen from a range of variables that can affect work performance, namely subordinate characteristics, locus of control, experience, ability, leadership style, environment factors, and work motivation (Gibson et al., 2012).Meanwhile, four independent variables were identified from the questionnaire results, based on the highest number of responses.These variables are locus of control (29%), leadership style (23%), environment factor (17%), and work motivation (15%).
A census survey with a Likert scale was used as the study instrument.Each variable indicator consists of four items with five answer choices, namely 5 (fully admit), 4 (admit), 3 (a little agree), 2 (differ), and 1 (wholly differ).This instrument consists of five variables, namely, locus of control (V1), leadership style (V2), environment factor (V3), work motivation (V4), and performance (V5).The Smart-PLS analysis employed codes for each number of questions.For example, V323 refers to the third variable (environment) in the second indicator (completeness of work equipment) for the third question (schools provide laptops to teachers for online learning).
Tables 1-5 present the blueprint of the instrument grid for locus of control, leadership style, environmental factors, work motivation, and teachers' performance.

Exploratory factor analysis
The designed study instrument had a total of 100 items.Exploratory Factor analysis (EFA) was subsequently conducted to identify common factors based on the items' similarity in the variables to be measured (Watkins, 2018).Furthermore, the EFA analysis obtained a repositioning of items that resulted in new dimensions of each variable.All variables obtained the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy (KMO) of > .50 with a significant value of < .05.Table 6 shows the changes in the number of dimensions for each variable.

Results
The demographic information of the study sample is shown in Table 7.

Validation and reliability tests
Fig. 2 shows the validation and reliability tests using the calculation results of the PLS algorithm based on a new dimension (after EFA).

Fig. 2. Structural PLS agorithm analysis results model
According to the path coefficient output in Fig. 2, only indicators with a loading factor coefficient of r > .70 were further analyzed, while data with r < .70 were not used in the study.The validity results of the data are presented in tables 8-12.The subsequent analysis used 95 valid data points and applied the Smart PLS bootstrap method.The analysis included evaluating the reliability of the data through Cronbach's Alpha (CA), Composite Reliability (CR), and Average Variance Extracted (AVE), as well as examining the magnitude of the direct and indirect effects.The reliability of the data is presented in Table 13.Table 13 shows the Cronbach's Alpha and Composite reliability values of r > .70 as well as Average Variance Extracted (AVE) values of r > .50.Therefore, all indicators consistently measure their construction, allowing the study to proceed.It is worth noting that CR is more justifiable than CA (Fauzi, 2022).

Hypothesis test results
The direct and indirect effects of exogenous variables on endogenous variables were determined by the coefficient tests conducted on each substructure.Also, a hypothesis is accepted when the PLS bootstrapping calculation analysis has a p-value of < .050,as shown in Table 3.This shows the exogenous variables have a significant effect on the endogenous variables.The next step involves calculating the coefficient of T-Statistics for hypothesis testing.Fig. 3 shows the calculation results of Smart PLS Bootstrapping produced T statistics, while Tables 14 and 15 respectively provide a summary of the direct and indirect effect calculation.Table 14 shows the direct and indirect effects among variables as obtained from the PLS bootstrapping analysis.Significant p-value of < .05 was found for six variables, indicating that there were six significant influences of exogenous variables on the endogenous, while answering the first and the second study questions as follows: First, the LC has a direct effect on WM.The analysis obtained a t-statistic value of 13.639 and a p-value of 0.000 < 0.05 (sig.level), indicating that LC directly affects WM.In other words, increased locus of control positively influenced teachers' work motivation.
Second, the LC has a direct effect on TP, which is proven by the t-statistics value of 54.708 and a p-value of 0.000 < 0.05 (sig.level).This shows the implementation of LC will have a positive influence on TP.
Third, LS has a direct effect on WM, which is proven by the t-statistic value of 19.694 and a p-value of 0.000 < 0.05 (sig.level).This indicates that an increase in LS will positively influence teachers' work motivation.
Fourth, LS has a direct effect on TP, which is proven by the t-statistic value of 1.124 and a p-value of .261> 0.05 (sig.level).This indicates that the implementation of an improved LS does not positively affect TP.
Fifth, EF has a direct effect on WM, evidenced by the t-statistics value of 5.304 and a p-value of .000< 0.05 (sig.level).This indicates that the implementation of environmental factors during the pandemic has a positive influence on work motivation.
Sixth, EF directly affects TP, which is proven by the t-statistics value of 14.888 and a p-value of 0.000 < 0.05 (sig.level).This indicates that the implementation of environmental factors has a positive influence on teachers' performance.
Seventh, WM has a direct effect on TP, which is proven based on the t-statistics value of 9.933 and a p-value of 0.000 < 0.05 (sig.level).This indicates that the implementation of work motivation positively affects teachers' performance.15, all the analysis results were significant at p-values of < .05.This provides an answer to the third study question: whether the locus of control indirectly affects teachers' performance through work motivation and whether leadership style indirectly affects teachers' performance through work motivation.It was also found that environmental factor directly affected teachers' performance through work motivation.Although, leadership style did not have a direct effect on teachers' performance, it indirectly affected their performance through work motivation.This highlights the significant influence of work motivation on teachers' performance.According to Saad (2018), work motivation could change an employee's psychological situation, resulting in favorable results for the institution.

Discussions
Teachers are crucial in improving the quality of education because they play significant roles and responsibilities.Their primary role is to make lesson plans, implement learning, evaluate learning outcomes, analyze evaluation results, provide remedial teaching, and enrichment.The smooth execution of these tasks is facilitated by several factors, namely the principal's leadership, work environment, motivation, and locus of control.Mulyana et al. (2021) found that work motivation and environmental factors positively impact teachers' performance.Furthermore, Sarwar et al. (2022) observed that principal leadership impacts teachers' performance in Faisalabad colleges.Drawing on previous relevant studies and a comprehensive analysis of variables affecting teachers' performance, the following explanation are provided: After testing the first hypothesis, it was found that locus of control had a significant direct effect on work motivation with a magnitude of p-41 = 0.428 x 0.428 =.1832 or 18.32.These results are consistent with previous studies that used structural equations model to produce a 12.46% direct effect of an internal locus of control on intrinsic motivation (Sundjoto, 2017).In support of the second hypothesis, it was discovered that locus of control had a significant direct effect on teachers' performance at p-51 = .856x .856= .7327or 73.37%.These results are consistent with prior studies that suggest a positive influence of locus of control on employee performance (Vishal, 2013), with an estimation of 21.62% (Siregar & Nahumury, 2015).
The third hypothesis testing showed leadership style had a significant direct effect on work motivation with a magnitude of p-42 = 0.348 x 0.348 = 0.1211 or 12.11%.This result is consistent with previous studies that leadership style positively influenced employee work motivation by 14.29% (Yalçınkaya et al., 2021).According to Rawung (2013), leadership style significantly affects work motivation in the education administration of employees at Manado State University, Indonesia.However, the fourth hypothesis demonstrated that leadership had no significant direct effect on teachers' performance, as the p-value was greater than 0.50.This result contradicts previous studies suggesting that leadership style affects SME firm performance in Turkey by 18.06% (Özer & Tınaztepe, 2014).The studies conducted in Perhutani, Indonesia, showed that leadership style positively influenced employee performance by 8.41% (Syafii et al., 2015;Al Khajeh, 2018), and also claimed three leadership styles influence organizational performance, namely democratic, transformational, and autocratic.
The differences in the magnitude of influence between this study and the previous ones are due to the sample size and nature of the respondents in each community, which can have different work cultures.The differences in sample size can affect the magnitude of influence and may interfere with the formulation of study conclusions (Faber & Fonseca, 2014).Respondents with similar cultural backgrounds may have distinctive response patterns and differ in their work styles from those with other national cultures (Mustajbašić & Husaković, 2016).
The fifth hypothesis demonstrated an insignificant direct effect of environmental factors on work motivation, with an effect magnitude of p-43= .141x .141= .02or 2 %.This is in line with a study suggesting that environmental differences increase teachers' motivation to work better (Alsadoon et al., 2022).On the other hand, the sixth hypothesis demonstrated a significant direct effect of environmental factors on teachers' performance with a magnitude of p-53 = .253x .253=.064 or 6.40 %.Previous studies have also suggested a positive influence of environmental factors on the performance of kindergarten teachers (Rahardjo, 2014;Wahyudi et al., 2022).
The seventh hypothesis demonstrated a significant direct effect of work motivation on teachers' performance, with a magnitude of p-54=.114x .114= .013or .1.30%.This result is consistent with other studies that work motivation affects performance in Thailand's cooperative board of directors by 2.07% (Chareonwongsak, 2017).According to Ghaffari et al. (2017), there is a positive correlation between motivational factors and job performance.
The analysis result with the most significant influence among p-51, p-52, p-53, and p-54 was p-51 (the influence of locus of control on the teachers' performance), which had a value of T-statistics = 54.708.Therefore, this variable has the most significant influence on teachers' performance.An organization requires employees with a high locus of control due to their ability to overcome uncertainty (Vishal, 2013).This result indicates that the locus of control is essential in running an organization to achieve good organizational performance (Padmanabhan, 2021).
Furthermore, an examination of hypotheses H.8, H.9, and H.10, and work motivation as an intervening variable revealed the following: The eighth hypothesis results showed a significant indirect effect of locus of control through work motivation on teachers' performance, with influence magnitude of p-541= .428x.114 = .049and p-51= 0.856 x 0.856 =.7327.Therefore, the magnitude of the p-541> p-51 indicates that motivation as an intervening variable does not significantly influence teachers' performance.The influence magnitude of p-542 is .348x .114= .0397.In contrast, the influence magnitude of p-52 is only .0006,hence p-542 > p-52.It can be concluded that work motivation has significant influence on teachers' performance.However, the magnitude of the influence p-543 is only .016,while p-53 = .064.Moreover, the magnitude of the influence of p-543 < p-53, with the conclusion that work motivation did not have a significant effect on teachers' performance.This indicates that motivation as an intervening variable of leadership style effectively influences teachers' performance.According to Widyaningsih and Arfiansyah (2020), there is a jointly significant influence of leadership style and work motivation on performance.

Conclusion
This study has proven nine hypotheses out of ten, indicating that the locus of control, leadership style, and environment factor significantly influenced work motivation.Furthermore, locus of control, environmental factors, and work motivation significantly impacted teachers' performance.The Path-analysis showed teachers' locus of control had the most significant influence on performance, as it motivates them to achieve better performance.On the other hand, the principal's leadership style in managing an organization indirectly affected teachers' performance through work motivation, rather than having a direct influence.
Based on the analysis results, it can be concluded that the principal's leadership style did not directly influence teachers' performance.Therefore, the government are expected to have a competency improvement program for the principal to improve their leadership style.This program is vital for the organization because effective leadership plays a crucial role in addressing differences in the character of teachers from different cultures.A leadership style that is acceptable to all organizational members will create solid teamwork.Similarly, improving the environmental factors will boost teachers' motivation and productivity in teaching and learning activities, ultimately influencing their work performance.

Managerial implications
The Indonesian government has made efforts to improve teachers' professionalism by requiring at least a bachelor's degree.The teachers are also certified for their performance.Moreover, there is an annual study upgrading program conducted by the local government through the education office.Based on the results, the Indonesian government are expected to increase its efforts in recruiting qualified teachers with the best academic achievement index, personality, commitment, and dedication.Ekwoaba et al. (2015) claimed that specific references to employee recruitment improve organizational performance.Saviour et al. (2016) stated that the recruitment and selection of new employees are crucial to achieving employee performance.
Continuous coaching for the teaching profession is necessary in providing consistent guidance on the four key variables affecting teachers' performance, namely locus of control, leadership style, environment factors, and work motivation.The next development program needs to improve both physical and non-physical environmental factors.The physical environment requires quality improvement, as it is directly related to the smooth work of the teachers.Similarly, non-physical environment factors need to be improved, as they indirectly affect the quality of teachers' work.A comfortable work environment can increase employees' motivation (Taty & Basir, 2016;Ingsiyah et al., 2019).

Limitations
This study has some limitations, which include the limited number of samples analyzed from the department of education alone, the scope does not represent regional areas in Indonesia, and the analysis of variables only involved school organizations.Therefore, the results cannot be generalized, but can be presented to schools to improve the quality of education in Indonesia.

Table 1
Blueprint of locus of control instrument

Table 6
Final result of instrument composition

Table 8
Loading factor coefficient for a locus of control

Table 14
The direct effect between two variables