Abstract:
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This study aimed to: 1) study the current state of innovation competency of
basic education schools, 2) study the factors that influence innovation competency of
basic education schools, and 3) propose a model for the development of innovation
competency of basic education schools.
The relationships between the factors influencing innovation competency were
developed from a competency-based view perspective, resource-based view perspective
and dynamic capabilities theory. The key elements for innovation competency of an
organization are composed of managerial competency (transformational leadership,
innovation strategy, support from management and HR practice), transformationbased
competency (organizational structure, organizational culture, organization learning
and research and development), organizational resources (tangible resources: financial
resources, physical resources and intangible resources: human resources and organization
knowledge), and organizational environment (government support, competition and
environment uncertainty).
This study used mixed methods. The data from the qualitative study were used
to supplement the information obtained from the quantitative study, which was the
principal method. The quantitative study was to test the influence of factors that affect
innovation competency of schools providing basic education. The data were collected
from sample groups of 420 schools through a questionnaire related to basic information of the school and also the factors that affect innovation competency including the
recommendation for developing innovation competency. Three hundred and thirtyfive
questionnaires, (79.76%) were returned. The qualitative study was conducted by
exploring the school’s documents and interviewing school administrators in seven
schools which had won the "one school, one innovation" award for three consecutive
years in order to obtain data for the analysis of the key elements that affected
innovation competency, including recommendations for developing the innovation
competency of the school. The data from this qualitative study was used to
supplement the data from the quantitative study.
The results of the quantitative study, using descriptive statistics and analysis of
the relation of factors using structural equation modeling (SEM), showed that the
basic education schools have an average mean value of 7.89 of innovation
competency. From testing the correlation factors that affected innovation competency,
it was found that managerial competency, transformation-based competency and
organizational resources had a direct effect on innovation competency. The organizational
environment had no significant direct effects on innovation competency, but it had an
indirect effect on innovation competency through managerial competency and
organizational resources. This showed consistency with the analysis of data from the
qualitative study, which showed that the organizational environment had no great
effect on innovation competency. In addition, the results of the qualitative study
showed that managerial competency, transformation-based competency and organizational
resources were important for innovation competency of an organization.
The results of both quantitative and qualitative studies were developed to
provide a model for developing innovation competency, theoretical recommendations,
practical recommendations, including policy recommendations and proposals for
future research.
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