Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to empirically test the relationship between the empowering structure and the employees’ innovative behavior and the role of psychological empowerment in mediating this link.

Design/methodology/approach

Structural equation modeling was used to analyze data from 401 female primary school teachers in India. Prior to the main study, the scales were tested on a sample of 288 teachers. While psychological empowerment and structural empowerment were based on the self-reporting by the teachers, the innovative behavior of the teacher was assessed by two to three colleagues for each teacher.

Findings

The results confirmed that structural empowerment leads to innovative behavior and psychological empowerment and partially mediates the relationship between structural empowerment and innovative behavior.

Practical implications

Promising ideas die down because of lack of proper resource support and a free flow of information exchange despite employees’ willingness to carry out innovative tasks. Psychological empowerment affects creative intention in the workplace and can play a critical role for employees at their workplace.

Social implications

In the context of development at the teacher and school levels, it is imperative to address both the psyche of the individual and the existing structure in schools.

Originality/value

This study makes two critical contributions. One, it emphasizes the importance of structural empowerment in ensuring innovative behavior of employees. Two, it also brings forward the importance of psychological empowerment in the relationship between structural empowerment and innovative behavior.