The Role of Transformational Leadership in Strengthening Internal Quality Assurance Systems in Higher Education: The Mediating Role of Quality Culture

Higher education institutions in Indonesia face increasing demands for accountability and quality enhancement, requiring effective internal quality assurance systems (IQAS) supported by strong leadership and culture. Despite the implementation of formal policies, many institutions struggle to internalize quality values, leading to a gap between compliance and genuine improvement. This study aims to examine how transformational leadership strengthens IQAS directly and indirectly through the mediating role of quality culture. A quantitative explanatory design was employed using a cross-sectional survey of 150 lecturers and academic staff at the Muslim University of Buton, Southeast Sulawesi Province. Data were collected through a 7-point Likert-scale questionnaire and analyzed using SmartPLS 4 to test both measurement and structural models. The results demonstrate that transformational leadership significantly influences quality culture (β = 0.530, p < 0.001) and IQAS (β = 0.191, p = 0.013), while quality culture also has a strong positive effect on IQAS (β = 0.510, p < 0.001). The mediation analysis reveals a partial indirect effect (β = 0.269, p < 0.001), indicating that leadership impacts IQAS both behaviorally and culturally. The model explains 30.3% of the variance in quality culture and 38.9% in IQAS, confirming moderate predictive power. These findings highlight that transformational leadership fosters trust, shared commitment, and continuous improvement—forming the foundation of effective internal quality systems. Theoretically, the study extends transformational leadership and quality assurance frameworks through cultural mediation, while practically, it guides higher education leaders in embedding quality as a collective institutional value