The mediating role of organisational innovative climate in the relationship between AI-TPACK and sustainable innovative teaching behaviour in higher secondary schools

The growing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education underscores the importance of teachers’ AI-related competencies and supportive school environments for innovative teaching. However, empirical evidence on how teachers’ AI-related skills are liked to innovative teaching behaviour remains limited, particularly in school settings and developing-country contexts. This study examines the association among AI Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge AI-TPACK, Organisational Innovative Climate (OIN), and Innovative Teaching Behaviour (ITB) across higher secondary teachers working in schools across Andhra Pradesh, India. Guided by Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), the study understands AI-TPACK in the capacity of a personal factor, OIN as an environmental factor, and ITB as an outcome. Data were collected through a systematically designed questionnaire from 394 teachers by means of a multi-stage sampling approach and analysed using SPSS and SmartPLS. The findings reveal that AI-TPACK demonstrates a positive relationship with both OIN and ITB. OIN also shows a positive relationship with ITB and, to a certain extent, mediates the link between AIT and ITB. The research model explains 55.1% of the variance in ITB. These results underscore the importance of teachers’ AI-related competencies and supportive organisational climate for innovative teaching. More broadly, these findings contribute to understanding the organisational and teacher-related conditions that may support sustained integration of AI into school education.