Abstract
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, colleges and universities have faced growing problems, especially increased accountability for education quality. Leaders have challenged faculty to solve these issues by continual improvement of curricula and student experiences with innovative practices for student-centered learning. Higher education leaders must consider how to support and empower faculty with their innovative practices for student-centered learning. This nonexperimental quantitative study involved examination of faculty members’ experiences of direct supervisor support of innovative practices for student-centered learning, psychological empowerment, innovation readiness, and innovation self-concept at private 4-year colleges in Wisconsin. In the study, 288 full-time faculty completed a survey. Descriptive and correlational analysis indicated significant positive relationships between direct supervisor support, psychological empowerment, innovation readiness, and innovation self-concept. A series of mediation analyses revealed that psychological empowerment did not mediate the relationships between direct supervisor support and each of innovation readiness and innovation self-concept. The findings have important implications for psychological empowerment’s influence on innovation and direct supervisor support. The study results led to a recommendation to develop a psychological empowerment course for direct supervisors to help them understand and apply psychological empowerment when guiding faculty with their innovation readiness and innovation self-concept for student-centered learning.