INNOVATION-BASED ISLAMIC EDUCATION MANAGEMENT FOR STRENGTHENING SCHOOL QUALITY AND COMPETITIVENESS

Abstrak

This study examines the associations among innovation-based Islamic education management, school quality, and school competitiveness, and tests the statistical indirect association through school quality in pesantren-based junior secondary schools in Regional Coordination Area III, Brebes Regency, Indonesia. A cross-sectional correlational and predictive survey was conducted with all 110 teachers in the population using total sampling. Data were collected with three 20-item five-point Likert scales and analyzed using simple and multiple linear regression, path coefficients, the Sobel test, HC3 robust standard errors for the heteroskedastic multiple model, and a 5,000-resample nonparametric bootstrap sensitivity analysis. Innovation-based management positively predicted school quality (b = 0.670; R² = 0.346; p < 0.001) and competitiveness (b = 0.643; R² = 0.306; p < 0.001). School quality positively predicted competitiveness (b = 0.635; R² = 0.388; p < 0.001). In the simultaneous model, both innovation-based management and school quality remained significant, and HC3 inference confirmed the same conclusion. The indirect association was 0.311, with a bootstrap 95% CI of 0.175-0.454. These findings support a statistical partial-indirect pattern in which school quality is an important pathway linking innovation-oriented management with competitiveness, while causal interpretation remains limited by the cross-sectional design.