Human capital development in university teaching environment: the role of workplace and innovation culture

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Innovation can help the human capital of teachers to work more creatively. The job atmosphere consists of the physical environment in which teachers work and the psychological or social-emotional climate created by the interactions and relationships between teachers, students, and school officials. The study focused on the teaching environment of public tertiary teachers and their association with innovation. METHODS: The study employed a descriptive research method to examine the relationship between the teaching environment and innovation among tertiary teachers. 196 teachers and 28 superior respondents filled out the survey questionnaire. The instrument used the percentage and frequency to analyze the respondent’s profile data and verbal descriptions and weighted mean to describe the variables. It used the following scale: Never, Seldom, Sometimes, Often, and Always. FINDINGS: The respondent profile reveals that 53.1% are females and 46.9% are males. 36.7% of respondents have five years of teaching experience, and 30.6% have a master’s degree, while 22.4% have a doctorate degree. Regarding challenging work, teachers and their superiors responded “always” to opportunities to express their ideas, with a mean rating of 4.25 and 4.29, respectively. Teachers also use innovative strategies to improve student performance, with mean ratings of 4.15 and 4.35. Teachers are recognized for a job well done in terms of organizational encouragement, with mean ratings of 3.98 and 4.14, respectively. Teachers possess the professional skills required for resources, with mean ratings of 4.05 and 4.54. Their superiors appreciate extra effort in supervisory engagement, with mean ratings of 4.20 and 4.43. Peers are supportive, with mean ratings of 4.23 and 4.25. Organizational independence was rated “seldom” by superiors on the item that some teachers ingratiate themselves with school officials to the disadvantage of their co-teachers, with a mean rating of 2.43. The result in the Culture of Innovation category shows that school officials allow teachers to try new ideas or strategies, as rated “always” by teachers and their superiors. CONCLUSION: These findings may provide teacher’s human capital development program to align the faculty in their field of specialization, minimize inbreeding and raise the quality of faculty members, and encourage senior faculty to undergo leadership capability training to prepare them how to handle sensitive positions in the university, to give opportunities to be more innovative, to engage them in high-quality research.