Mediating Role of Reflective Leadership Skills on the Relationship between Servant Leadership and Organizational Climate

Poor organizational climate is a critical threat to the education sector. This study examined the mediating role of reflective leadership skills in the relationship between servant leadership skills and organizational climate. Using a predictive research design, data were collected from 314 randomly selected public school teachers from the Schools Division Office of Davao Occidental and analyzed through mediation analysis. The findings indicate that reflective leadership skills strongly (58.2%) and partially mediate the relationship between servant leadership and organizational climate, thus supporting the General Systems Theory. Future studies may explore additional leadership styles and organizational factors that influence school organizational climate, while school leaders and educational authorities are encouraged to enhance leadership development through targeted training, reflective practices, coaching, and the provision of adequate resources.

Mediating role of reflective leadership skills, servant leadership, organizational climate

1. Alharbi, M. (2024). Validation of a teacher’s needs analysis questionnaire: Reliability and internal consistency using Cronbach’s alpha. Journal of Educational Research and Practice, 14(2), 115–124. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-3802.12659 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

2. Alj, Z., & Bouayad, A. (2024). Multidimensional determinants of academic performance: Insights from undergraduate students in Moroccan universities. Journal of Technology and Science Education, 14(2), 607–621. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

3. Alqarni, S. A. Y. (2020). How school climate predicts teachers' organizational silence. International Journal of Educational Administration and Policy Studies, 12(1), 12–27. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

4. Antonio, S. A. N. D. U. (2021). Informed consent as a protective tool of the right to autonomy and dignity of human subjects participating in biomedical research. Jurnalul de Studii Juridice, 16(3–4), 29–58. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

5. Babbie, E. R. (2020). The practice of social research (15th ed.). Cengage Learning. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

6. Backhaus, K., Erichson, B., Gensler, S., & Weiber, R. (2021). Multivariate analysis: An application-oriented introduction (3rd ed.). Springer. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

7. Bambale, A. J. A. (2013). The mediating effect of psychological ownership on the relationship between servant leadership and organizational citizenship behaviors in Kano, Nigeria (Doctoral dissertation, Universiti Utara Malaysia). https://etd.uum.edu.my/3791/1/s92854.pdf [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

8. Bwalya, A. R. (2023). Leadership styles. Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Innovation, 11. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.23932113 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

9. Campbell, C., & Ceau, M. (2023). Leading reflective practice—Reviewing the evidence. National Academy for Educational Leadership Wales. https://nael.cymru/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Leading-Reflective-Practice-Reviewing-the-Evidence-FINAL.pdf [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

10. Celli, M. (2022). Mediation analysis in behavioral sciences: Concepts and applications. Behavioral Research Methods, 54(2), 789–804. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

11. Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

12. Costa, R. (2024). Descriptive statistics in educational research. Statistics in Education Journal, 10(1), 15–28. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

13. Creswell, J. W., & Guetterman, T. C. (2021). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (7th ed.). Pearson. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

14. Fang, J., & Qi, Z. (2023). The influence of school climate on teachers’ job satisfaction: The mediating role of teachers’ self-efficacy. PLOS ONE, 18(10), e0287555. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

15. Field, A. (2020). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics (5th ed.). SAGE Publications. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

16. Goodfellow, L. T. (2023). An overview of survey research. Respiratory Care, 68(9), 1309–1313. https://doi.org/10.4187/respcare.1104 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

17. Guilford, J. P. (1956). Fundamental statistics in psychology and education. McGraw-Hill. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

18. Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2019). Multivariate data analysis (8th ed.). Cengage. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

19. Hair, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C. M., Sarstedt, M., Danks, N. P., & Ray, S. (2021). Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) using R. Springer. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

20. Hayes, A. F. (2022). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. Guilford Publications. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

21. Heil, A. (2017). Systems theory. Systems Theory SPC, 330(1). [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

22. Hou, H., Gai, R., & An, L. (2023). The impact of environmentally specific servant leadership on organizational performance: The mediating role of creativity. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, Article 1091025. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1091025 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

23. Igartua, J. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2021). Mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: Concepts, computations, and common confusions. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

24. Kainde, S. J., & Mandagi, D. (2023). A systematic review of servant leadership outcomes in education context. EDUKASIA Jurnal Pendidikan dan Pembelajaran, 4(2), 2563–2574. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

25. Khalil, M., & Ebner, M. (2023). Learning analytics in higher education: A review of predictive models. Computers & Education, 190, 104591. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

26. Kusmaryono, I., Wijayanti, D., & Maharani, H. R. (2022). Number of response options and validity of Likert scales in education research: A literature review. International Journal of Educational Methodology, 8(4), 625–637. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

27. Liu, Y., Bellibaş, M. Ş., & Gümüş, S. (2021). Instructional leadership and teacher outcomes: Mediating roles of school culture and collaboration. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 49(3), 430–453. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

28. Manla, V. H. (2021). School climate: Its impact on teachers’ commitment and performance. Journal of World Englishes and Educational Practices, 3(2), 21–35. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

29. Meditamar, M. O. (2024). School climate and job satisfaction: Mediating roles of teacher self-efficacy and engagement. Jurnal Pedagogi dan Pembelajaran, 7(3). [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

30. Mohajan, H. K. (2020). Quantitative research: Reliability and validity. Journal of Economic Development, Environment and People, 9(4), 12–35. https://doi.org/10.26458/jedep.v9i4.680 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

31. Mukti, B. H. (2025). Sample size determination in health research. Health Sciences International Journal, 3(1), 127–143. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

32. Nadia, S., Khan, M. A., & Ali, R. (2025). Servant leadership and organizational climate. Vision: The Journal of Business Perspective. https://doi.org/10.1177/09716858251358452 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

33. Namgyal. (2022). School principals’ reflective leadership skills. https://doi.org/10.22161/jhed.4.1.21 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

34. Obi, Z. C., & Okeke, I. A. (2025). Organizational climate and teachers’ performance. International Journal of Education Research and Scientific Development, 8(1), 311–327. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

35. Pershina, T. A., & Dolgih, E. A. (2025). Proportional stratified sampling in agriculture. Finance and Management. https://doi.org/10.25136/2409-7802.2025.4.76224 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

36. Privitera, G. J. (2021). Essential statistics for the behavioral sciences (4th ed.). SAGE Publications. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

37. Riyanto, S. (2020). Leadership and organizational climate on job satisfaction. Atlantis Press. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

38. Rizk, H. (2023). Correlation analysis in social sciences. Journal of Applied Statistics, 50(3), 455–470. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

39. Sailila, D. P., Dilangalen, E. K., Dilangalen, A. K., & Lumapenet, H. T. (2024). Exploring challenges in developing organizational climate in schools. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

40. Saro, J. M., Apat, J. Q., & Pareja, M. S. (2023). Teachers’ motivation and research competence. Journal of Advanced Educational Philosophy, 7(1), 14–24. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

41. Sghir, I., Mansouri, K., & Qbadou, M. (2022). Predictive analytics in education. Education and Information Technologies, 27(5), 6205–6233. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

42. Shad, M. A., Rasool, S., & Ishtiaq, A. (2024). Organizational climate and teacher performance. International Journal of Social Science Archives. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

43. Sharma, A., & Gupta, S. (2025). Organizational climate and teacher adjustment. Journal of Informatics Education and Research, 5(1). [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

44. Shmueli, G., Bruce, P. C., Yahav, I., Patel, N. R., & Lichtendahl, K. C. (2023). Data mining for business analytics (4th ed.). Wiley. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

45. Sim, M., Kim, S. Y., & Suh, Y. (2022). Sample size requirements in mediation models. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 82(1), 76–106. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

46. Surahman, E. (2020). Organizational climate in school organizations. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Technology and Education. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

47. Villan, M. G., & Quines, L. A. (2025). School climate and organizational citizenship behavior. European Journal of Education Studies, 12(2). [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

48. Von Bertalanffy, L. (1956). General systems theory. General Systems, 1, 1–10. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

49. Yadav, G. S. (2024). Advancing social science research: SPSS applications. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

50. Zahra, T., & Sajjad, S. (2025). Organizational climate in schools. Human Nature Journal of Social Sciences, 6(1), 123–136. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

51. Zhou, G., Gul, R., & Tufail, M. (2022). Servant leadership and work engagement. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, Article 925732. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.925732 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

52. Zhou, X. (2023). Professional development, school climate, and teacher efficacy (Doctoral dissertation). [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

• Understanding Academic Leadership: Theory, Practice and Future Horizons
• A Literature Review on Leadership and Cultural Evolution of Adventism in East Africa Region
• Unlocking Employee Creativity Through Empowering Leadership: The Dynamic Interplay of Trust and Engagement
• The Integration of Preachers’ Leadership Competencies in Empowering Preachers for the Orang Asli Community in Malaysia
• Traditional Authority vs. Legacy Leadership: A Comparative Literature Review from the Arab World