Are you really doing good things in your boss's eyes? Interactive effects of employee innovative work behavior and leader-member exchange on supervisory performance ratings

Employees' reactions to CSR perception and disclosure in the presence of multilevel contingencies

Purpose

Primarily, this research aims to examine how and when firm-level corporate social responsibility (CSR) translates into individual-level attitudes and behaviors of employees under cross-level boundary conditions of firm-level family ownership (FO) and group-level ethical leadership.

Design/methodology/approach

Philosophically, the present research comes under the post-positivist paradigm, with a deductive approach. The multilevel, multisource and multimethod data for this research were collected by employing a time-lagged design through the survey strategy and from annual reports of 60 manufacturing firms in Pakistan. The multilevel path analysis was conducted using MPlus.

Findings

The authors found that organizational identification (OID) statistically and significantly mediates the impact of firms' CSR disclosure on employees' innovative job performance (EIJP). However, the partial mediation of OID between firm-level CSR perception and EIJP was noticed. Moreover, a firm-level contingency of FO and group-level ethical leadership further intensifies the impact of CSR disclosure and perception on EIJP through OID.

Research limitations/implications

Theoretically, this research widens the current understanding of employees' reactions to firms' CSR disclosure and perception by investigating the contingencies of firm-level FO and group-level ethical leadership. Practically, the managers can consider the underlying framework presented in this research in defining CSR as the antecedent of the OID and EIJP. For example, organizations must deliberately concentrate on not only their CSR initiatives and engagements but also immense attentiveness should be given to CSR disclosure because disclosing CSR will assist the top management in achieving the desired workplace attitudes and behaviors of employees. This research will also help business leaders to understand the integration of CSR and ethical leadership while making CSR-related strategic decisions.

Originality/value

Existing research on CSR still needs advancement due to competing explanations, inconsistencies in the findings, and a lack of multilevel studies. Although few studies on CSR have considered multilevel aspects by devising and testing multilevel mechanisms but largely remained deficient concerning cross-level boundary conditions. Furthermore, the authors also noticed that the academic literature predominantly analyses the impact of perceived CSR either at the individual level or the firm aggregated level on employee attitudes and behaviors. However, research on the effect of organizational CSR disclosure on the behaviors and attitudes of employees remains scarce.

The effect of organizational culture and leadership on performance: A case of a subsidiary in Colombia

This study aims to determine the level of culture of a new subsidiary of a company in Colombia and define strategies to increase the level of culture in a way that promotes the organization in this region. Following the organizational culture theories, the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument was used to measure the aspects of organizational culture. The transfer and adoption of culture are achieved through knowledge sharing within and across the departments and units of large organizations. The comparison between the current and desired state of culture shows a gap in the clan culture, as the company wishes to establish a working environment that promotes teamwork and employee participation, creates confidence, and provides opportunities for professional development. Executives can measure the strength of organizational culture with the aim of updating, strengthening, or modifying the existing culture to improve performance and gain sustainability.

Zhongyong thinking, leader–member exchange, and employee innovative behavior

Innovative and creative employees are crucial for increasing organizations' competitive advantage. This study examined the relationship between Zhongyong thinking and employee innovative behavior, along with the mediating role of leader–member exchange (LMX). Participants were 275 subordinates and 61 supervisors employed at a large enterprise in China. We tested the proposed hypotheses with structural equation modeling based on a time-lagged survey. The results show that, as predicted, both Zhongyong thinking and LMX were positively related to subordinates' innovative behavior. Furthermore, LMX partially mediated the relationship between Zhongyong thinking and subordinates' innovative behavior. These findings point to the importance of both Zhongyong thinking and LMX for innovative behavior in an organization. Implications are discussed for research and practice.

Team Learning, Work Behaviors, and Performance: A Qualitative Case Study of a Technical University in Ghana

Higher education institutions in Ghana have a lot of expectations but appear to be facing contemporary challenges. Using five focus groups, this study explores individual learning, team learning, organizational citizenship behaviors, leader–member exchanges, innovative work behaviors, and performance in a Ghanaian technical university. Interactive exchanges suggest that individual social behaviors and leadership exchanges are important to higher educational institutions (HEIs). Both stakeholders and managers should activate these behaviors and leadership qualities to enhance performance. The inherent benefits help both faculty and HEIs fulfill their core mandates of teaching, research, and community service. With these, they remain globally competitive given challenges, dynamism, and expected performance from both faculty and HEIs as agents of socio-economic development. This study informs on underlying mechanisms that affect engagement in some of these behaviors, including the effect of culture as an inhibitor of women’s innovative behaviors. Next to that, it provides both theoretical and practical evidence for stakeholders, especially HEI managers, regarding how to increase faculty members’ efficiencies and performance. Finally, the study offers both recommendations and directions for future research.

The Emerging Paradigm of Leadership for Future: The Use of Authentic Leadership to Lead Innovation in VUCA Environment

This study explicated the mediating role of leader-member exchange (LMX) and identification with the leader linking authentic leadership and innovative work behavior. The data were collected from the three sectors of the service industry. The final sample size obtained was 347. The data were collected both through the Google form and pen-filled questionnaires. SPSS was used to compute demographic profiles and conduct a hierarchal regression, while Smart-PLS was used for evaluating the constructs for their psychometric properties and testing the structural relations as proposed in the model. This study found LMX and identification with the leader to mediate between authentic leadership and the innovative work behavior of the employees.

Do HR practices facilitate innovative work behaviour? Empirical evidence from higher education institutes

BACKGROUND: Nothing we do is more important than hiring and developing people. At the end of the day, you bet on people, not on strategies,” Lawrence Bossily. OBJECTIVE: Drawing on the above quote, this study investigates the role of High-performance work practices (HPWP) in fostering innovative work behaviour (IWB) of service sector employees. METHODOLOGY: Data collected by structured questionnaires were analysed through the structural equation modelling technique. RESULTS: Findings showed that selection and training & development play a significant role in fostering innovative work behaviour. Moreover, self-efficacy proved to be a significant mediator in the mechanism of HPWP-IWB. CONCLUSION: The finding of the study underpins the reciprocity perspective of the social exchange theory (SET). Additionally, the study also endorses that human resources are not a thing companies do. It is the thing that runs businesses.

Effect of employees’ work engagement and knowledge sharing as mediators of empowering leadership and innovative work behaviour

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the influences of work engagement and knowledge sharing as mediators of empowering leadership and innovative work behaviour.

Design/methodology/approach

A cross-sectional design study was used, and questionnaires were submitted to 385 engineers to test the proposed relationships. AMOS 21 and PROCESS macro 3.1 were used for statistical analysis.

Findings

The results revealed that work engagement and knowledge sharing were partially mediated by empowering leadership and innovative work behaviour.

Practical implications

The results of the study can be used by leaders for promoting and supporting innovative work behaviour in the organisation. Moreover, employees should be supported and enhanced to learn continuously under the consultation of the leaders.

Originality/value

The findings contribute to the literature on empowering leadership and innovative work behaviour by highlighting that work engagement and knowledge sharing act as mediators to empower leadership and enhance innovative work behaviour.

In Leaders We Trust, or Should We? Supervisors' Dark Triad Personality Traits and Ratings of Team Performance and Innovation

Our study tests in a sample of 87 organizational groups (297 employees and 87 supervisors) the mediating role of leader-member exchange (LMX) and collective narcissism in the relationship between supervisors’ dark triad (SDT) personality traits and ratings of team outcomes made by supervisors and team members. We show that LMX mediates the association between SDT and team performance and innovation as rated by team members, while collective narcissism mediates the association between SDT and supervisory ratings of team innovation and team performance. Moreover, collective narcissism also mediates the association between SDT and team innovation as rated by team members. Results show that team-level performance appraisal is influenced by supervisory attributes and that the quality of relational exchanges and collective narcissism are plausible mechanisms explaining this association. The use of supervisory ratings of team outcomes in empirical research should also account for the supervisory attributes.

CSR and Workplace Autonomy as Enablers of Workplace Innovation in SMEs through Employees: Extending the Boundary Conditions of Self-Determination Theory

The current business environment characterized by high uncertainty, volatility, and stiff situation of competitiveness that is evident in almost every sector has increased the importance of workplace innovation for contemporary businesses. In this regard, a considerable attention in realizing employees of an organization as a source of innovation is not evident from the existing literature. In this aspect, the current study is an attempt to foster workplace innovation through employees in the SME sector of an emerging economy. In doing so, the authors propose that corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives of an SME, along with workplace autonomy, are helpful in creating an environment at the workplace that fosters innovative employee behavior (IEB). Furthermore, the current study also extends the boundary condition of the theory of self-determination by arguing that this theory provides a comprehensive framework to explain employees’ motivation for workplace innovation. The data of the current survey was obtained from the SME sector situated in two large cities of a developing country through a self-administered questionnaire which was then analyzed through structural-equation-modeling (SEM) using the AMOS software. The results confirmed that CSR directly relates to IEB and workplace autonomy mediates this relationship. The study also discusses the implications of this survey for theory and practice.

Fostering Workplace Innovation through CSR and Authentic Leadership: Evidence from SME Sector

The cut-throat situation of competitiveness in almost every business sector, followed by globalization, shortened product life cycles, and rapid technological changes have raised the importance of innovation to overrun the rivals. Scholars have established that appropriate leadership style is a key enabler for organizational success. However, it is not clear in existing literature how the concept of authentic leadership is related to innovative work behavior (IWB). Likewise, the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to induce IWB is also vague in current literature. Thus, the basic purpose of the current study was to test the relationship of CSR and IWB with the mediating effect of authentic leadership. The proposed model was tested in the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) sector of China. The data were collected through a questionnaire that was distributed among different respondents of the current survey. The data were obtained from a dyad of supervisor and subordinate serving in different SMEs in Wuhan city of China. The study used the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique to validate different hypotheses. The empirical results confirm that CSR positively relates to IWB while authentic leadership partially mediates this relationship. The findings of the current survey will be helpful for policymakers to recognize employees as a source of innovation through CSR and authentic leadership.

Brokers Compensate for Leader–Member Exchange Differentiation

Abstract. Due to the relevance of innovations for organizational success, we investigated the impact of (relative) leader–member exchange (LMX) on individual- and team-level perceptions of the climate for innovation (PCI) as well as whether the presence of an individual with a high LMX relationship who plays a mediating role for individuals with lower LMX relationships during team meetings (i.e., a broker) moderates the effects of LMX differentiation. We conducted multilevel analyses of self-assessment and video data from 286 employees in 45 innovation teams. The results confirm the positive effect of (relative) LMX (RLMX) on PCI. The negative effect of LMX differentiation on PCI is not present in teams with a broker. Finally, individuals with high RLMX play a more central role in meetings than those with low RLMX.

Assessing teacher innovations: expert versus peer ratings

Purpose

The growing recognition of the role of teacher innovative behavior in educational improvement has led to more systematic assessment of teacher-driven innovations, usually through expert panels. Innovative peer-teachers may be more closely aligned with the correlates of teacher innovative behavior than experts, and hence their participation in such panels might make the process more robust. Hence, the authors ask, “Do expert and peer assessments relate to individual-related correlates of innovative teacher behavior differently?”

Design/methodology/approach

Innovations of 347 teachers in India were assessed by an expert panel and a peer-teacher panel using the consensual technique of rating innovations. Structural equation modeling was used to study the relationships of the ratings with the innovative teachers' self-reported creative self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation, learning orientation and proactive personality.

Findings

Expert ratings were significantly related to creative self-efficacy beliefs (β = 0.53, p < 0.05), whereas peer ratings were not. Peer ratings were significantly related to learning orientation (β = 0.19, p < 0.05), whereas expert ratings were not. Also, expert ratings were found to be indirectly associated with teachers' proactive personality and intrinsic motivation via creative self-efficacy beliefs; peer ratings were not associated with proactive personality.

Originality/value

The paper, through a robust methodology that relates expert and peer assessments with individual-related correlates of innovative behavior, makes a case for educational innovation managers to consider mixed panels of experts and innovative teacher-peers to make the assessment process more robust.

Leader-member exchange and frontline employees' innovative behaviors: the roles of employee happiness and service climate

Purpose

This research primarily aims to study the role of leader-member exchange (LMX) in frontline employees' (FLEs) innovative behaviors, whereby a mediating effect of employee happiness is proposed in this relationship. The moderating effect of service climate is also examined on the indirect effect of LMX on innovative behaviors through happiness.

Design/methodology/approach

The study used a sample of 303 FLEs working in various service organizations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed model.

Findings

The findings show that LMX has a positive and significant effect on FLEs' innovative behaviors and that employee happiness is an intervening variable. Service climate moderates the indirect effect of LMX on FLEs' innovative behaviors through happiness, and the effect is stronger in a low (unsupported) service climate.

Practical implications

The findings of this research provide prescriptive insights into the critical role of supervisory behavior in FLEs' innovative service behaviors and how positive emotions contribute to employees' willingness to innovate. Thus, these findings make a unique contribution to research in service management.

Originality/value

Studies examining how and when LMX can affect FLEs' innovative behaviors are limited. These findings offer new insights into the relative importance of supervisor and organizational support (service climate) in FLEs' innovative behaviors. The interaction effect of LMX and service climate has not been previously examined along with positive employee affect (happiness) and innovative behaviors.

Promoting Green Product Development Performance via Leader Green Transformationality and Employee Green Self-Efficacy: The Moderating Role of Environmental Regulation

By integrating internal green self-efficacy and external environmental regulation, this research investigates the relationship between green transformational leadership and green product development performance. Taking 23 new energy vehicle enterprises in China as samples, we collected 298 valid questionnaires and verified the hypotheses through structural equation modeling. The results show that both green transformational leadership and green self-efficacy can promote green product development performance; green self-efficacy mediates the positive relationship between green transformational leadership and green product development performance, while environmental regulation positively moderates the mediating effect of green self-efficacy. Furthermore, environmental regulation and green self-efficacy interact to promote green product development performance. Our research provides a new perspective to understand how green transformational leadership is related to green product development performance and how this relationship is molded by contextual antecedents. Enterprises need to comprehensively consider the green influence of transformational leadership, green driving of employees themselves, and green linkage among organizations (macro policy guidance, passive market incentives, and self-issued actions) to improve green product development performance. Limitations and future scope are discussed.

How to Motivate Employees for Sustained Innovation Behavior in Job Stressors? A Cross-Level Analysis of Organizational Innovation Climate

The starting point of organizational innovation is employees’ creative thinking and innovation behaviors at work. In addition to personality and innovation willingness, innovation behavior depends on the level of support available in an organizational environment. The data used in this study were collected from 74 R&D teams (418 employee participants) in technology companies in Taiwan, and a multi-level analysis was conducted to investigate the relationships among job stressors, creative self-efficacy, and employees’ sustained innovation behavior, as well as the role of the organizational innovation climate between creative self-efficacy and employees’ innovation behavior. The research findings revealed significant positive relationships between challenge stressors and employees’ sustained innovation behavior, as well as significant negative relationships between hindrance stressors and employees’ sustained innovation behavior, mediation effects of creative self-efficacy on job stressors and employees’ sustained innovation behavior, and moderation effects of the organizational innovation climate on employees’ creative self-efficacy and sustained innovation behavior. An enterprise could place some working-related stress on employees and create a rich internal innovative climate to induce innovation behavior in its members.

Servant Leadership and Innovative Behaviour: An Empirical Analysis of Ghana’s Manufacturing Sector

In the competitive global market, innovation is vital to a firm’s longevity. To this end, organisations seek new and alternative ways to motivate employee innovation. This study examines the role of servant leadership as an antecedent to innovation. Drawing on the social identity model, this study examines the effect of servant leadership, team-member exchange (TMX) and perceived insider status on employee innovative behaviour. Primary data were collected from six manufacturing companies in Ghana. Using a sample of 213 employees and their immediate supervisors, a confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to test the discriminant validity of our measurement model. Hierarchical multiple regression was then used to determine direct and interaction effects, followed by bootstrapping tests to identify mediation and moderated mediation effects. The results showed that servant leadership and TMX are significantly related to perceived insider status. The bootstrapping indirect test and Sobel test demonstrated that perceived insider status mediates the relationship between servant leadership and innovative work behaviour. Moreover, the mediated relationship is only significant when TMX is low. This study empirically validated servant leadership as an antecedent to employee innovative behaviour. The findings demonstrated that perceived insider status is a mediating mechanism in this relationship, with TMX as its boundary condition.