Examining the drivers of innovative work behaviour among academics of higher education institutions in Malaysia: the mediating role of individual innovation capability

As innovative work behaviour (IWB) becomes increasingly vital for maintaining academic excellence, there is a pressing need to understand its determinants within higher education institutions (HEIs), especially in Malaysia. Existing studies often examine predictors in isolation and rarely consider how individual innovation capability (IIC) functions as a psychological mechanism linking organisational and personal factors to IWB. To address this gap, this study develops an integrated model grounded in Social Exchange Theory (SET), Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), and SelfDetermination Theory (SDT), to investigate how psychological empowerment (PE), flexible work arrangements (FWAs), perceived organisational support (POS), knowledge sharing (KS), and transformational leadership (TL) shape IWB among academics. Data were gathered from 389 permanent academics across Malaysian universities featured in the QS World University Rankings 2023 through purposive sampling. A disjoint two-stage methodology in Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) 4.0 was employed to investigate sixteen hypotheses. The analysis produced three key findings. First, PE, KS, TL, and IIC significantly influence IWB, whereas FWAs and POS do not. Second, PE, FWAs, and KS have a positive influence on IIC, whereas POS and TL demonstrate no significant effect. Third, mediation analysis reveals that IIC only mediates the relationships between PE, FWAs, and KS on IWB, while POS and TL do not. This study advances theory by integrating three major theories into a single explanatory model, positioning IIC as a novel mediat