Model for social intelligence and teachers’ innovative work behavior: serial mediation

Abstract

Social intelligenceis the capacity, capability, or ability to build relationships with others effectively; therefore, its existence is vital for an organization’s members, including teachers, in the school organization context. Therefore, this study explores the link between social intelligence and creativity, teaching self-efficacy, affective commitment, and innovative work behavior in Indonesian teachers, estimates the strength of these relationships, and finds a relevant new empirical model. A Likert-scale questionnaire was used to collect research data from 496 teachers. Structural equation modeling supported by descriptive and correlational analyses revealed that social intelligencehad a significant relationship with teachers’ creativity, teaching self-efficacy, affective commitment, and innovative work behavior. Additionally, creativity, teaching self-efficacy, and affective commitment were significantly linked to teachers’ innovative work behavior. Social intelligence had the strongest association with self-efficacy. Finally, a new empirical model of the link between social intelligence and teachers’ innovative work behavior with the serial mediation of creativity, teaching self-efficacy, and affective commitment was developed. Accordingly, social intelligence improvement can potentially increase teachers’ creativity, teaching self-efficacy, affective commitment, and innovative work behavior, which are worthy of discussion and priority by researchers, academics, and practitioners for developing social intelligence in various fields and contexts.