Charismatic Kiai Authority and Professional Learning Communities in Indonesian Pesantren

Abstract

Kiai leadership in pesantren rests on a hybrid authority that combines personal charisma with traditional legitimacy, yet how this authority relates to teacher Professional Learning Community (PLC) development is rarely tested. Mainstream PLC literature presumes distributed leadership, an assumption that fits Western secular schools but sits awkwardly with pesantren, where authority is concentrated in the Kiai and grounded in religious lineage. This study examined the extent to which five charismatic dimensions of Kiai authority predict PLC practices among 153 ustadz, drawn through Slovin sampling from 248 eligible teachers across twelve pesantren in four districts of Banten, Indonesia. The Charismatic Leadership Questionnaire and the PLCA-Revised were translated, expert-reviewed, and pilot-tested with 35 ustadz. Content Validity Index values exceeded 0.80 and Cronbach alpha reached 0.94 and 0.96. Multiple regression showed that the five dimensions explained 46.8% of variance in PLC practices, F(5, 147) = 25.873, p < .001, R² = 0.468. Strategic vision, sensitivity to member needs, and environmental sensitivity were significant predictors; personal risk-taking and unconventional behaviour were not. The pattern refines charismatic leadership theory by showing that, in pesantren, value-alignment dimensions of teacher collaboration are supported by moral-religious authority, while peer-practice dimensions are constrained by the same hierarchy. Findings inform leadership development for Kiai and ustadz: vision articulation and pastoral attentiveness translate readily into collaborative teacher cultures, but extending peer critique and shared practice requires structural and cultural supports beyond charisma.