Lilik Majidatut Zahro, Ratna Suhartini, Umi Anugerah Izzati
Vocational education systems increasingly emphasize teacher innovation as essential for preparing students for dynamic labor markets, yet innovation levels among productive teachers remain surprisingly uneven. This paradox—where highly capable and engaged teachers demonstrate limited innovative behavior—represents a significant gap in understanding vocational education improvement. This study investigated organizational and contextual factors constraining innovation behaviors among productive vocational school teachers, examining barriers that persist even among demonstrably effective educators. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was employed with 247 productive vocational teachers from 18 public vocational schools (SMK) in East Java Province, Indonesia. Quantitative data were collected through validated survey instruments measuring innovative behavior, institutional support, professional autonomy, workload intensity, professional development adequacy, and innovation climate. Structural equation modeling and hierarchical regression analyses identified significant predictors of teacher innovation. Qualitative data from 24 semistructured interviews provided contextual depth regarding barrier mechanisms. The structural model (CFI = 0.94; RMSEA = 0.06) explained 47% of variance in teacher innovative behavior. Institutional support emerged as the strongest positive predictor (β = 0.35, p < 0.001), followed by professional autonomy (β = 0.24, p < 0.001), innovation climate (β = 0.21, p < 0.01), and professional development (β = 0.18, p < 0.01). Workload intensity showed significant negative effects (β = -0.28, p < 0.001). Qualitative themes revealed administrative overload, insufficient organizational recognition, pedagogical autonomy constraints, innovation-focused professional development gaps, and risk-averse institutional cultures as key barrier mechanisms. The innovation gap among productive vocational teachers reflects systemic organizational constraints rather than individual deficiencies. Addressing this gap requires comprehensive institutional development targeting multiple interconnected barriers, particularly enhancing organizational support while reducing workload burden. © Copyright (c) 2026 The Authors. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Postgraduate School, State University of Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia
