Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to contribute to extant literature by linking principal empowering leadership to teachers' innovative work behavior. By doing so, the author attempts to provide a more nuanced understanding of this relationship by examining a moderated mediation model which encompasses exploration as a mediator and role conflict as a moderator. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 201 public teachers. In order to examine the present hypotheses bootstrapping analysis, Sobel test and SPSS macro were used. Findings: The results demonstrated that teacher exploration mediates the relationship between empowering leadership and innovative work behavior and, further, that this indirect effect is contingent on role conflict. Practical implications: Based on the present findings, in order to enhance innovation, schools need to promote both empowering leadership style and their teachers' exploration. Moreover, principals should refrain from providing conflicting orders and expectations from their teachers because such conditions will eliminate the positive effect of their empowering behaviors on teachers' exploration and innovative work behavior. Originality/value: This is the first study that develops and tests a moderated mediation model regarding the relationship between principal empowering leadership and teacher innovative behavior.