Perceived competency development as a pathway to lecturer retention intention in Indonesian private nursing higher education

Abstract Lecturer retention intention is a critical educational management concern in Indonesian private nursing higher education because it affects teaching continuity, clinical supervision, academic coordination, and program reliability. However, limited research has explained how institutional conditions are associated with lecturer retention intention through perceived competency development. This study examines whether perceived competency development mediates the relationships of technology satisfaction and perceived organizational support with lecturer retention intention in Indonesian private nursing higher education. Using a cross-sectional survey of 248 lecturers, the data were analyzed using PLS-SEM with bootstrapping to estimate direct, indirect, and total effects. The results show that perceived competency development was positively associated with lecturer retention intention (β = 0.516), and perceived organizational support was indirectly associated with lecturer retention intention through perceived competency development (β = 0.200). In contrast, technology satisfaction was not significantly associated with either perceived competency development or lecturer retention intention. These findings suggest that lecturer retention intention is more closely linked to perceived developmental opportunities than to satisfaction with institutional technology alone. This study provides context-specific evidence that perceived competency development functions as a developmental pathway linking institutional support to lecturer retention intention in professionally regulated private nursing higher education. Because the study uses cross-sectional and self-reported data, the findings should be interpreted as associations rather than causal effects.