Motivating innovation in schools: School principals’ work engagement as a motivator for schools’ innovation

Abstract

This multisource, multilevel study examines the role of school principals’ work engagement as a motivational catalyst for schools’ innovation. We hypothesize that principals’ work engagement motivates teachers’ creativity which in turn should foster the amount of innovations made in schools. In order to operationalize innovation, we used four measures: teachers’ self-ratings and three school-specific objective indicators of schools’ innovation (school projects, external communication, and internal communication). Eighty-seven principals and 902 teachers from 83 German schools participated in our study. Results of multilevel structural equation modelling showed that principals’ work engagement increases teachers’ idea generation which in turn fosters all of our four aspects of innovation. Idea generation mediated the relationship between principals’ work engagement and self-rated innovation. It can be concluded from our study that both principals’ work engagement and teachers’ creativity can be powerful forces concerning schools’ innovation.

Keywords:

• Innovation
• Creativity
• Work engagement
• Idea generation

We thank Laura Hogenelst, Laura Krebs, Ina Krüger, and Astrid Wirth for their support during data collection and data processing.

This study is part of Anna R. Koch’s dissertation and part of a larger project supported by a grant from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF; grant number 01JG1010A) that is gratefully acknowledged.

Notes

¹ Germany has a dual system for occupational training because training is conducted in two places of learning, i.e., companies and vocational schools. German vocational schools provide students with technical and on-the-job training.