Transformational Leadership and Organizational Transformation in Indonesian Private Secondary Schools: Change Commitment Over Change Efficacy

Abstract

Background: Post-pandemic private schools face intensifying strategic pressures such as financial sustainability, business-model adaptation, and talent retention, which make organizational transformation a survival imperative. However, whether the two dimensions of organizational readiness, commitment, and efficacy operate concurrently or hierarchically in transmitting leadership influence into systemic transformation remains unclear.
Purpose: This study examines the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational transformation in private schools through organizational readiness for change, clarifying the distinct roles of change commitment and change efficacy.
Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative design was used; data from 114 respondents across six private secondary schools in Bogor Regency were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).
Findings/results: Change commitment emerged as the dominant mechanism driving organizational transformation, whereas change efficacy did not. The results indicate complementary partial mediation, in which transformational leadership influences systemic change mainly by cultivating collective commitment and retaining a smaller direct effect. Neither the direct effect of change efficacy on transformation nor its mediating path was significant.
Conclusion: Organizational readiness appears to be weighted toward commitment, and leadership works partly through a direct path but mainly through the collective commitment it cultivates. Therefore, transformation strategies may integrate commitment building with capability development.
Originality/value: This study shows that the two readiness dimensions carry unequal weight and proposes collective commitment as a candidate microfoundational condition for organizational reconfiguration within the Dynamic Capabilities perspective.

Keywords: change commitment, change efficacy, organizational readiness for change, organizational transformation, transformational leadership