The Influence of Competence and Leadership Style on Performance Through Job Satisfaction of Educational Staff at Hkbp Nommensen University Medan

The development of higher education requires educational staff to possess adequate competence and to be supported by effective leadership styles in order to provide optimal services. Performance data of educational staff at HKBP Nommensen University Medan indicate fluctuations and a decline in quality in recent years, highlighting the need to evaluate factors influencing performance, particularly competence, leadership style, and job satisfaction. This study aims to analyze the effect of competence and leadership style on the performance of educational staff through job satisfaction as an intervening variable. This study is associative research using a quantitative approach. The results show that directly, competence and leadership style have a positive and significant effect on job satisfaction and on the performance of educational staff. These findings indicate that job satisfaction plays a strategic role in strengthening the relationship between competence, leadership style, and performance. In terms of total effects, competence and leadership style significantly contribute to the performance of educational staff, both directly and indirectly through job satisfaction. Furthermore, competence, leadership style, and job satisfaction explain 71.1% of the variance in educational staff performance, while the remaining 28.9% is influenced by other factors such as work motivation, organizational commitment, work discipline, training and development, and performance appraisal systems.