Introduction: In today's competitive world, the role and importance of employees have become more prominent. Organizations seek employees who use all their strengths to achieve their goals. Nowadays, a critical factor involved in the progress of an organization is its employees' innovative performance. Social capital is a vital element that plays a decisive role in innovative performance. Since universities are one of the most essential sources of knowledge in the country, they can create a situation where, by using organizational support, they can benefit from the existing social capital to create and cultivate new ideas. The present research aimed to investigate the effect of organizational support on innovative performance with the mediating role of social capital, which was carried out among faculty members of the universities of Esfarayen in 2023.
Methods and Materials: This descriptive, survey-correlation study included 110 faculty members from Esfarayen universities, utilizing a census sampling method. The research employed Khosravi's standard perceived organizational support, Eskanderzadeh's innovative performance, and Rasoolzadeh's social capital questionnaires. The validity of the questionnaires was confirmed through their content validity and reliability for organizational support (r = 0.92), innovative performance (r = 0.86), and social capital (r = 0.70). Data were analyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficient, variance analysis, and multiple linear regression using SPSS 26 statistical software.
Results: The research findings showed a statistically significant relationship between organizational support and innovative performance (p = 0.00; r = 0.600). There was also a significant association between the variable of organizational support and the variable of social capital (p = 0.021; r = 0.271). However, the relationship between social capital and innovative performance was insignificant (p ≥ 0.05). Regression analysis found that among the variables of innovative performance and social capital (as predictor variables), the former variable was able to predict the variance related to organizational support.
Conclusion and Discussion: Our findings indicated a significant correlation of the organizational support variable with innovative performance and social capital. Using programs that foster friendly relationships and establish a strong communication network within the organization, as well as enhancing social capital, can naturally increase organizational support and promote innovative performance. Therefore, authorities are recommended to enhance the organizational support of academic staff members to encourage them to perform innovative functions.