Intellectual Leadership and Lecturers’ Academic Performance in Sorong Private Higher Education: The Mediating Roles of Organizational Trust and Affective Commitment

Abstract

Although leadership is recognized as a determinant of academic performance, the mechanisms linking intellectual leadership to performance remain underexplored, particularly in private higher education in Papua. This study examines the effect of intellectual leadership on lecturers’ academic performance in private higher education institutions in Sorong Regency, Indonesia, with organizational trust and affective commitment as mediators. Using a quantitative approach, we analyzed data from a census-based survey of 137 lecturers using PLS-SEM. Intellectual leadership did not directly affect academic performance but significantly influenced organizational trust and affective commitment. Affective commitment significantly mediated the leadership performance relationship, whereas organizational trust did not. Thus, intellectual leadership enhances academic performance indirectly through affective commitment as a primary motivational mechanism. Evidence from a non-Western, non-metropolitan context extends Social Exchange Theory in intellectual leadership research. University leaders in similarly under-resourced regions should prioritize mentoring, recognition, and identity-building practices that strengthen lecturers’ emotional attachment to their institutions.