Leadership for school innovation culture, academic success, and teacher creativity through organisational climate for creativity

Based on leadership-style and innovation theories, the aim of this study is to examine the effects of transformational and passive-avoidant leadership on organisational climate for creativity (OCC), and the latter’s effect on teacher and school innovation as measured by: culture of inquiry, innovation, and exploration; school emphasis on academic success; and individual innovation outcome by teacher's creativity. The study further examines the indirect effect of leadership styles on these innovation outcomes through the effect of OCC using multilevel structural equation modelling data derived from 2,248 teachers from 87 Arab public schools in Israel. Results indicate that transformational leadership positively affects OCC, which in turn predicts school-level and teacher-level innovation. Passive-avoidant leadership had no significant effects. Furthermore, transformational leadership was found to affect school and individual innovation indirectly through OCC. Overall, the findings support a mechanism-based interpretation for predicting innovation aligned with upper echelons theory by showing that transformational leadership can become indirectly consequential through internal organisational conditions such as OCC. The study highlights practical implications for developing innovation in under-resourced, minoritized schools.