Reframing Innovation: Contextualizing Resilient Intrapreneurship and Social Value in Academic Libraries through the FluxLib Model

This study reconceptualizes opportunity recognition (OR)—a core entrepreneurial competency—as a culturally embedded behavior within academic libraries. Drawing on case studies from Malaysia and New Zealand, we explore how librarians practice resilient intrapreneurship—the ability to initiate, adapt, and sustain innovation amid constraints. Using the FluxLib framework, we show that Malaysian librarians anchor innovation in spiritual values and policy alignment, while their New Zealand counterparts rely on intercultural reflexivity and distributed leadership. Despite differing institutional logics, both demonstrate behaviors that generate socially meaningful innovation aligned with the Third Mission of universities. The study advances entrepreneurial competency theory through culturally responsive constructs such as spiritually anchored motivation, curated participation, and empowered vulnerability. We also provide practical pathways for embedding innovation-readiness in resource-constrained, culturally diverse environments. By shifting the focus from individualist, market-oriented entrepreneurship to embedded intrapreneurial behaviors, FluxLib offers a transferable framework for building socially impactful innovation ecosystems in public knowledge institutions. However, the findings are limited to selected institutions and cultural contexts. Future research may test the FluxLib framework across other national settings or apply it in longitudinal studies to examine sustainability over time.