Innovative behavior in Ethiopian public research universities: A cross-institutional study of academic and administrative perspectives

The present study investigates the practice of employee innovative behavior within and across Ethiopian public research HEIs by examining the perspectives of both academic and administrative staff. This inclusive approach marks a key novelty of the research, as prior studies often excluded administrative staff. The study was grounded in the widely accepted three dimensions of employee innovative behavior and was conducted across three higher educational institutions. A cross-sectional quantitative research design was employed, and data were collected from a random sample of 726 participants using a structured questionnaire composed of 15 items measured on a five-point Likert scale. The questionnaire was adapted from existing literature and tested for reliability and validity. The analysis was conducted utilizing SPSS version 26, encompassing descriptive statistics, MANOVA, LSD post hoc tests, and inter-item covariance matrix analysis. The findings revealed no statistically significant differences in the dimensions of idea generation and promotion across the higher educational institutions; however, a substantial difference was observed in the idea implementation. The study theoretically contributes to the extension of the employee innovative behavior literature to the context of higher education in a developing country. Practically contribute to the importance of integrating administrative staff.