Purpose: Innovative work behavior has become an important factor in organizational effectiveness, adaptability, and development, particularly in dynamic and changing environments. In educational organizations, employees' innovative behaviors can improve organizational processes, enhance educational service quality, and increase organizational dynamism. Among the organizational factors influencing innovative work behavior, leadership plays a particularly important role. Through inspirational motivation, idealized influence, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration, transformational leadership can encourage employees to move beyond routine practices and contribute to organizational improvement. At the same time, psychological capital—comprising self-efficacy, hope, resilience, and optimism—may constitute an important mechanism through which leadership practices are translated into innovative behaviors. Accordingly, this study aimed to investigate the effect of transformational leadership on innovative work behavior among employees of the North Khorasan Province Department of Education and to examine the mediating role of psychological capital in this relationship.
Design/Methodology/Approach: The study was applied in terms of purpose and employed a descriptive-correlational design based on structural equation modeling. The statistical population consisted of all 553 employees of the North Khorasan Province Department of Education during the 2024–2025 academic year. A total of 300 questionnaires were distributed, and after excluding incomplete questionnaires, 230 completed questionnaires were included in the final analysis using convenience sampling. Data were collected using standardized questionnaires: innovative work behavior was measured using Janssen's (2000) nine-item questionnaire, transformational leadership using the Bass and Avolio (2000) questionnaire, and psychological capital using the Luthans, Youssef, and Avolio (2007) 24-item questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha coefficients were 0.84, 0.88, and 0.91, respectively. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 24 and AMOS version 24; confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to assess the measurement model, structural equation modeling was employed to examine the hypothesized relationships, and the mediating effect of psychological capital was tested using bootstrapping with 5,000 resamples.
Findings: The results showed that transformational leadership had a positive and statistically significant direct effect on innovative work behavior (β = 0.284, P = 0.027). Transformational leadership also had a strong positive and statistically significant effect on psychological capital (β = 0.770, P < 0.001), explaining 59.4% of its variance. Furthermore, psychological capital positively and significantly affected innovative work behavior (β = 0.325, P = 0.014). Transformational leadership and psychological capital jointly explained 32.9% of the variance in innovative work behavior. The structural model demonstrated an acceptable overall fit, with χ²/df = 2.891, CFI = 0.941, TLI = 0.917, IFI = 0.942, GFI = 0.908, NFI = 0.914, and RMSEA = 0.091. The bootstrap results confirmed a significant indirect effect of transformational leadership on innovative work behavior through psychological capital. The standardized indirect effect was β = 0.251 (P = 0.006), with a 95% confidence interval ranging from 0.111 to 0.432. Because the confidence interval did not include zero, the indirect effect was statistically significant. Moreover, the direct effect of transformational leadership remained significant after psychological capital was entered into the model. Therefore, psychological capital partially mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and innovative work behavior.
Conclusion: The findings indicate that transformational leadership can promote innovative work behavior among employees of educational organizations through both direct and indirect pathways. The mediating role of psychological capital suggests that part of this influence is realized by strengthening employees' positive psychological resources. Transformational leaders can facilitate innovation by creating a supportive climate, communicating an inspiring vision, providing individualized support, encouraging intellectual engagement, and strengthening employees' confidence. These practices can enhance psychological capital and, consequently, employees' readiness to generate, promote, and implement new ideas. The partial mediation also indicates that transformational leadership affects innovative work behavior through mechanisms beyond psychological capital, suggesting the potential contribution of other individual, interpersonal, and organizational factors. From a practical perspective, educational organizations seeking to strengthen innovation should focus on developing transformational leadership competencies while also strengthening employees' psychological capital. Interventions that strengthen self-efficacy, hope, resilience, and optimism may increase employees' psychological readiness to engage in innovative activities. Overall, the findings emphasize the importance of considering leadership practices and positive psychological resources together when explaining and promoting innovative work behavior, and the proposed model offers a useful framework and practical implications for enhancing organizational innovation in the education sector.