Transformational leadership and innovation in Vietnamese higher education: The serial mediating roles of engagement and citizenship behaviour

Orientation: The rapid expansion of higher education institutions in Vietnam has heightened competition and increased demands for high-quality human resources. Lecturers and administrative staff are required to continually enhance teaching, research and administrative skills. Transformational leadership is a key factor fostering such innovative capacities. Research purpose: This study investigates the impact of transformational leadership on innovative work behaviour amongst lecturers and administrative staff in Vietnamese public universities, with a focus on mediating roles of work engagement and organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB). Motivation for the study: Although transformational leadership has been studied in other organisational contexts, empirical evidence within higher education – particularly in Vietnam – remains limited. Clarifying its role in shaping innovative behaviours is vital to improving academic competitiveness. Research approach/design and method: A quantitative survey of 374 lecturers and staff from Vietnamese public universities was performed using convenience sampling. Data were analysed by Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) to assess direct and mediating effects. Main findings: Transformational leadership significantly improves work engagement (β = 0.389, p < 0.05), OCB (β = 0.285, p < 0.05) and innovative work behaviour (β = 0.329, p < 0.05). Both work engagement (β = 0.122, p < 0.05) and OCB (β = 0.089, p < 0.05) function as partial mediators. Practical/managerial implications: The results suggest that strengthening transformational leadership practices fosters engagement, citizenship behaviours and innovation, thereby boosting institutional performance. Contribution/value-add: Drawing on empirical evidence from Vietnam, this study highlights how transformational leadership promotes innovation through dual-mediating mechanisms and extends the literature on leadership and innovation in higher education.