In today’s highly competitive environment, where open innovation has emerged as a vital paradigm for the advancement of educational organizations, it is essential to implement strategies that facilitate the acquisition, sharing, and purposeful utilization of cross-boundary knowledge and ideas. Accordingly, the present study was conducted to examine the role of educational management in open innovation, employing structural equation modeling to assess the mediating function of problem-solving competence among the employees of Hakim Sabzevari University. This research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive–correlational in terms of nature and methodology, utilizing structural equation modeling (SEM). The statistical population consisted of all administrative staff and faculty members employed at Hakim Sabzevari University during the first semester of the 2024–2025 academic year. From this population, a sample of 226 participants was selected using proportionate stratified random sampling. Data were collected using three standardized and validated questionnaires measuring educational management, open innovation, and problem-solving competence, which were distributed among the selected participants. The findings revealed that educational management is positively associated with open innovation; however, through the mediating role of problem-solving competence, educational management does not exert a significant positive indirect effect on open innovation at Hakim Sabzevari University. This result implicitly suggests the inefficiency or insufficiency of the current level of problem-solving competence within the university’s organizational structure in translating educational management policies into open innovation outcomes.