PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT, PSYCHOLOGICAL EMPOWERMENT AND INNOVATIVE WORK BEHAVIOR OF ACADEMIC STAFF OF PRIVATE POLYTECHNICS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The higher educational sector is bedeviled with a myriad of challenges which has affected the innovative work behavior of staff in both the public and private institutions. To understand what factors are responsible for this poor state of innovative work behavior, this study attempted to ascertain the effect of perceived organizational support and psychological empowerment on the innovative work behavior of academic staff of private polytechnics in Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State. Employing a cross-sectional research design on a sample of 83 academics, the study found that perceived organizational support was significantly related to both psychological empowerment and innovative work behavior. The study also found that psychological empowerment was significantly related to innovative work behavior and its mediating effect on the relationship between perceived organizational support and innovative work behavior was not confirmed. The practical and theoretical implications of the results were then discussed.