Leadership And Mosque Performance In Rural And Urban Areas Of Peninsular Malaysia

This study investigated the association of imams' religiosity behavior, leadership behavior, motivation to lead, and mosque performance of both rural and urban mosques in three states of Peninsular Malaysia or Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, and Negeri Sembilan. 250 randomly selected mosques around the three states were visited in this study. All selected mosques were distributed with a self- administered questionnaire to be filled by the mosque leader or imam. The questionnaires returned to the researcher are 58 and this has made the respond rate for this research is 23.2 percent. Mosque performance was measured by using three variables or mosque attendance, the amount of fund raised by the mosque, and mosque assets. Imams' religiosity behavior was measured through the imams' routine religious activities and their leadership behavior was measured through three dimensions or task- oriented, relation-oriented, and religious leadership oriented behavior. Motivation to lead was measured by using three dimensions or affective identity, non-calculative, and social normative motivation to lead. Based on the test of normality, the distribution of data for leadership behavior and motivation to lead was found normal suggesting the results could be generalized to the whole population of imams in the three investigated states. Based on hierarchical regression analysis, this research first found that amount of fund raised by mosques have a significant positive association with mosque attendance but not mosque assets. Secondly, imams' individual religiosity behavior has no significant association with their leadership and motivation to lead. Thirdly, imams' religious leadership behavior has significant influence over mosque performance as compared to conventional task and relation leadership behaviors. Fourth, same with imams' leadership, their motivation to lead also significantly influenced mosque performance. Finally, imams' leadership behavior partially mediated the association of imams' motivation to lead and mosque performance suggesting imams' leadership as a significant variable to determine mosque performance. The results, in general, are important to be used by authorities and associated bodies to design suitable development model for imams and mosque performance in Malaysia.