From Digital Attendance to Discipline Transformation: An Empirical Study of Behavioral Visibility, Moral Surveillance, and Religious Self-Regulation

Digital transformation in education is advancing rapidly, yet empirical understanding of how technology contributes to student discipline development in Islamic education remains relatively limited. This study aims to examine the relationship between the QR-Code Attendance System, Behavioral Visibility, Parental Digital Engagement, Digital Moral Surveillance, Religious Self-Regulation, and Student Discipline Transformation. The study used a quantitative explanatory survey design involving 436 madrasah students who have used a QR-code-based attendance system. Analysis was conducted using Structural Equation Modeling–Partial Least Squares. The results indicate that the QR-Code Attendance System increases Behavioral Visibility, which in turn strengthens Parental Digital Engagement. Parental Digital Engagement is positively associated with Digital Moral Surveillance, which fosters the development of Religious Self-Regulation. Religious Self-Regulation, in turn, contributes to Student Discipline Transformation. All mediation pathways showed strong significance, including full serial mediation from the digital attendance system to student discipline transformation. These findings expand our understanding of the relationships among digital educational governance, family engagement, moral surveillance, and religious character formation, and highlight the importance of integrating technology and values to strengthen student discipline in madrasahs. In practice, madrasah administrators should integrate attendance systems with timely parental engagement, constructive moral oversight, and support for religious self-regulation to translate attendance data into sustainable disciplinary practices.