Influence of Leadership Commitment on Innovative Work Behavior of Academic Staffs in Nepalese Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

The paper examines how the commitment of the leader influences the innovative work behavior of academic staffs in higher education institutions in Nepal. The leadership commitment is conceptualized as the extent to which institutional leaders provide support in terms of resources committed, and maintenance of quality in order to create innovation. The study used a cross-sectional quantitative research design and instrument to gather data on 150 faculty members in five higher education institutes in Nepal through stratified random sampling. It was a structured questionnaire using validated scales of leadership commitment and innovative work behavior. They were analyzed by descriptive statistics, reliability through Cronbach alpha, Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression. Findings indicate that leadership commitment has strong positive impact on innovative work behaviour (0.62, p < 0.01), when the control variables are removed, including years of experience, academic rank, and institutional type. Leader involvement and resource support were found to be the most powerful predictors of implementation and promotion of idea among leader commitment elements. The instrument was very reliable (Cronbach alpha of leadership commitment =0.88; innovative work behavior =0.84). Descriptive findings showed that faculty members report moderate rates of leadership commitment (Mean = 3.45 on a 5-point scale) and a rather higher rate of innovative behaviors in idea generation (Mean = 3.60) and lower in idea implementation (Mean = 3.10). The research is relevant to the study of the role of committed leadership in influencing innovation in the academic sphere and specifically in the Nepalese setting where in terms of resources of the institutions and the quality of leadership, there is a high degree of dispersion. It suggests that universities should invest in leadership development, provide regular resource provisions to innovation and keep the leadership practices transparent and participative in order to increase invention tendencies among the faculty. Such practices may result in better teaching, research and performance of the institution.