Teacher-initiated change in the primary school: The relationship between supervisor support, innovative school climate and teacher innovative work behavior

Abstract

Although a lot of research has looked into employee innovative behavior (IWB) in the private sector, few studies have focused on primary school teachers’ IWB and its determinants. Teacher IWB can help schools keep up to date with educational and societal changes and set the example for students as future employees (Thurlings et al., 2015). By means of a quantitative survey research design, this study investigates whether supervisor support and innovative school climate predicted primary school teacher IWB. Moreover, this study attempted to improve the measurement of teacher IWB by combining knowledge from teacher informal learning, creative behavior and educational change. Principal Component Analysis revealed the IWB questionnaire consisted of three factors, which were interpreted as school-level innovative behavior, individual innovative behavior and innovative personality. Supervisor support was a significant, positive predicted for school-level and individual innovative behavior. The relationship between innovative school climate and IWB was complex. Overall, the results indicated that innovative behavior can occur within and outside one’s classroom. Moreover, results suggest that the supervisor is the key actor in enhancing innovative behavior of teachers. Future studies are advised to further investigate the complex nature of IWB and the interaction between contextual and personal factors.