INSTITUTIONAL AUTONOMY, TEACHER EMPOWERMENT, AND ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOR IN KASHMIR’S DEGREE COLLEGES

Abstract

This empirical study investigates the structural linkages among institutional autonomy, psychological teacher empowerment, and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) among faculty members serving in government degree colleges across the Kashmir region of Jammu and Kashmir, India. Grounded in Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and Social Exchange Theory (SET), the study formulates and tests a structural model wherein psychological teacher empowerment acts as a mediator transmitting the impact of perceived institutional autonomy to individual-directed (OCB-I) and organization-directed (OCB-O) extra-role citizenship behaviors. Utilizing a cross-sectional survey design, primary data were collected from N = 384 full-time faculty members across 24 higher education institutions in five districts of the Kashmir division. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) via SmartPLS 4 was employed to evaluate measurement properties and test direct and indirect structural relationships. The empirical results reveal that perceived institutional autonomy exerts a significant direct positive effect on both psychological teacher empowerment (β = 0.542, p < .001) and overall organizational citizenship behavior (β = 0.218, p < .001). Furthermore, psychological empowerment operates as a significant partial mediator, accounting for a substantial portion of the total effect of autonomy on citizenship behavior (indirect effect β = 0.286, p < .001; total effect β = 0.504, p < .001). Among the four sub-dimensions of psychological empowerment, impact and self-determination demonstrated the strongest predictive validity for organization-directed citizenship behaviors. The findings underline the critical necessity of transitioning from traditional, highly centralized state administrative surveillance toward decentralized, autonomous governance frameworks as envisioned by the National Education Policy (NEP 2020). Policy interventions aimed at elevating academic excellence in Himalayan and geographically challenged higher education landscapes must prioritize structural delegation, pedagogical flexibility, and psychological empowerment over coercive accountability measures.