Universities as incubators of innovation: The role of a university playfulness climate in teachers' sustainable teaching innovation

With institutions of higher education recognizing the importance of implementing sustainability education, universities have begun exploring the driving factors of sustainable teaching innova-tion among higher education faculty. However, the crucial role of higher education faculty in the educational innovation process has been neglected. This study adopted a two-wave tracking survey method, collected 354 valid questionnaires from the university innovation and entrepre-neurship education alliance of the eastern coastal provinces of China, and tested the research model using hierarchical regression. The findings indicate that (1) university playfulness climate can predict teachers' sustainable teaching innovation; (2) job engagement positively mediates the relationship between university playfulness climate and sustainable teaching innovation; and (3) the sensitivity of teachers' teaching and learning positively moderates the effects of university playfulness climate and job engagement on teachers' sustainable teaching innovation. These findings suggest that the role of the university playfulness climate is being considered and may be closely related to university social innovation through teachers' sustainable teaching innovation.