Purpose This study aims to identify the role of teacher competency in enhancing student engagement and performance. The moderating roles of teacher creativity and student achievement motivation are employed to see their effects. Design/methodology/approach Questionnaires are distributed to undergraduate students of the management program in Indonesia, and 233 responses are used for hypothesis testing. Partial least squares structural equation modeling with SmartPLS 4 is then used to analyze the research model. Findings This study finds that student engagement mediates the relationship between teacher competency and student performance and that teacher creativity can strengthen the positive relationship between teacher competency and student engagement. Surprisingly, the positive relationship between engaged students and their performance is stronger when their achievement motivation is low. Originality/value The moderating roles of teacher creativity and student achievement motivation, not thoroughly examined in prior research, are presented to complement our model of the relationships among teacher competency, student engagement and performance.
Wulani et al. (2026) studied this question.