The mediation between participative leadership and employee exploratory innovation

Psychological Capital, Autonomous Motivation and Innovative Behavior: A Study Aimed at Employees in Social Networks

The present study investigates the relationship between positive psychological capital (PsyCap) and innovative work behavior (IWB), as mediated by autonomous motivation and participative leadership moderation. The study was conducted on a sample of 246 employees from various public and private organizations, recruited through different social networks. The moderated mediation analysis provided evidence about the impact of employees' PsyCap on their innovative behavior at work. This behavior will be higher when individual factors (PsyCap) and social factors (participative leadership) interact with one of the most self-determined forms of motivation. Our findings highlight the importance of the individual's positive psychological capital in activating the resources and motivation, necessary to develop innovative behavior in employees, thus achieving organizational success in today's dynamic and competitive business environment. The results also confirmed the moderating effect of participative leadership on the relationship between autonomous motivation and innovative behavior of employees, supporting that the relationship will be stronger when participative leadership is higher. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, as well as limitations and suggestions for future studies.

Participative leadership, ethical climate and responsible innovation perceptions: evidence from South Korea

This study explores a novel process linking participative leadership (PL) to responsible innovation (RI) perceptions through ethical climate. It also investigates the moderating role of managerial discretion in this process. Two-wave survey data were collected from employees working for technology firms in South Korea. Findings show that the link between PL and RI perceptions is mediated by ethical climate and that the relationship between ethical climate and RI as well as the indirect relationship between PL and RI are moderated by managerial discretion. This study expands the theoretical research perspective on consequences and mechanisms of PL, uncovers a new driver of ethical climate, expands research on the outcomes of ethical work climates, discovers new antecedents of RI perceptions, and enriches the RI literature by exploring mechanisms and boundary conditions in which RI perceptions are formed within organizations in Asia Pacific, specifically South Korea. This study provides a good approach for managers in Asian countries to follow if they wish to establish positive perceptions of an ethical climate and RI among their employees that are important to achieve organizational success.

Digital leadership and exploratory innovation: From the dual perspectives of strategic orientation and organizational culture

The literature on leadership is increasingly supporting the power of digital leadership in promoting corporate innovation. In spite of this, digital leadership is a noticeable omission from the literature. As such, in this study, we developed a model based on a resource-based view and social information processing theory to examine the roles of digital entrepreneurial orientation and digital organizational culture in the relationship between digital leadership and exploratory innovation. We examined the moderating role of big data analytics capabilities according to a resource-based view and dynamic capability theory. Using a time-lagged survey data of 401 followers and 88 leaders, the results show that (a) digital leadership has a positive impact on exploratory innovation; (b) digital entrepreneurial orientation and digital organizational culture mediate the positive relationship between digital leadership and exploratory innovation; and (c) and mediating effect is positive moderated by big data analytics capabilities. Thus, in this study we are not only responding to the call to strengthen digitalization research in organizations but also further deepening our understanding of the path from digital leadership to exploratory innovation. These findings have theoretical implications for the literature on leadership and managerial implications for practitioners.

Innovation in times of pandemic: The moderating effect of knowledge sharing on the relationship between COVID‐19‐induced job stress and employee innovation

The goal of this study is to examine knowledge sharing as a boundary condition under which employee innovation can be enhanced in response to the job stress induced by the COVID‐19 pandemic. We argue that when stressed employees share knowledge, they can expand their knowledge base and thereby enhance their innovative potential. Consistent with our hypothesis, multiple regression analysis results based on a sample of 61 R&D employees of UK and US technology‐based firms show that knowledge sharing moderated the relationship between COVID‐19‐induced job stress and employee innovation, such that the relationship was negative when knowledge sharing was lower but became positive when knowledge sharing was higher. These findings highlight the importance of investing in knowledge‐based resources to promote innovation behavior at work during a pandemic.

Enhancing employees’ creativity through entrepreneurial leadership: can knowledge sharing and creative self-efficacy matter?

Purpose

This study aims to examine knowledge sharing as an explanatory variable between entrepreneurial leadership and employee creativity. The authors further examined the moderating role of creative self-efficacy between knowledge sharing and employee creativity.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors collected data from 307 employees and their immediate supervisors working in IT-based organizations.

Findings

The authors noted that entrepreneurial leaders positively affect employees’ creativity and knowledge sharing positively explains this association. The authors further noted individuals high in creative self-efficacy strengthen the association between knowledge sharing and employee creativity.

Research limitations/implications

The authors used a cross-sectional design to collect data that may restrict causality. Still, the study suggests management learn, develop and implement entrepreneurial skills that foster knowledge sharing to enhance creativity. In addition, hiring individuals with creative self-efficacy would further encourage creativity.

Originality/value

Drawing upon social exchange theory, the authors are first to examine knowledge sharing as a mediating mechanism between entrepreneurial leadership and employee creativity. In addition, the authors examined creative self-efficacy as a conditional variable on the association between knowledge sharing and employee creativity.

Knowledge has no value until it is shared: an empowering leadership perceptive

Purpose

The effect of empowering leadership on knowledge sharing is well defined, but factors that stimulate employees for knowledge sharing are still limited. Therefore, this study aims to address to what extent empowering leadership is desirable to create a trustful and fair environment that is conducive for an employee’s knowledge sharing.

Design/methodology/approach

Through integration of social exchange, equity and uncertainty management theories develop a moderating mediating model that links empowering leadership to knowledge sharing. Three-wave data collection from the sample of 375 managers–subordinates’ dyads was done in Pakistan textile industries.

Findings

Hierarchal regression analysis and bootstrapping method were applied to test the hypotheses. The results indicate that affective trust partially mediates the relationship between empowering leadership and knowledge sharing. More especially, the findings demonstrate that the relationship between empowering leadership and knowledge sharing becomes strong with high level of distributive and procedural justices.

Practical implications

This research study uses empowering leadership as a proposed motivational pathway for stimulating employee’s knowledge sharing through development of affective trust and buffering effect of distributive and procedural justices.

Originality/value

Most of previous research in knowledge sharing just cynosure organizational-level elements like leadership and organizational justices but deteriorate individual factors like trust. Therefore, this study will combine both organizational- and individual-level factors for urging employees for knowledge sharing.

Does Participative Leadership Matters in Employees' Outcomes During COVID-19? Role of Leader Behavioral Integrity

The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has badly affected the social, physical, and emotional health of workers, especially those working in the healthcare sectors. Drawing on social exchange theory, we investigated the effects of participative leadership on employees' workplace thriving and helping behaviors among frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, we examined the moderating role of a leader's behavioral integrity in strengthening the relationship between participative leadership, and employees' workplace thriving and helping behaviors. By using a two-wave time-lagged design and data collected from 244 healthcare workers, a moderated hierarchal regression was implemented to test the proposed hypotheses. As hypothesized, participative leadership predicted employees' workplace thriving and helping behaviors. The leader's behavioral integrity strengthened the relationship between participative leadership and employees' thriving and moderated the relationship between participative leadership helping behaviors. Implications for research, theory, and practice are discussed.

Participative leadership and employee creativity: a sequential mediation model of psychological safety and creative process engagement

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to draw upon social information processing theory to examine the sequential mediating roles of psychological safety and creative process engagement between participative leadership on creativity.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a time-lagged sample of 526 supervisor–subordinate dyads from R&D teams of five enterprises located in the southwest part of China, we tested the theoretical model using structural equation modelling (SEM) as well as with the MPLUS 7.0 software.

Findings

Results indicated that participative leadership is positively related to creative process engagement; psychological safety significantly mediates the relationship between participative leadership and creative process engagement; creative process engagement significantly mediates the relationship between psychological safety and employee creativity; psychological safety and creative process engagement sequentially mediates the relationship between participative leadership and creativity.

Practical implications

The study findings imply that the participative leadership behaviors of managers or supervisor's nurtures employees psychological safety to take risk and promotes employee engagement in creativity relevant ventures leading to creativity.

Originality/value

The findings contribute new knowledge on the relationship between participative leadership and creativity by uncovering the causal chain of a cognitive mechanism (psychological safety) with a behavioral mechanism (creative process engagement).

THE EFFECT OF SUPPORTIVE LEADER ON EMPLOYEES’ ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY TOWARDS INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOUR

Innovative behaviour and its antecedents attracted research interest recently. To address this need, the researcher draws on State-Trait Curiosity Inventory and self-determination theory to examine the impacts of work-related curiosity (WRC) and employee absorptive capacity on innovative employee behaviour. The mediating variable of employee absorptive capacity (EAC) was examined. Data was collected and analysed from 292 full-time employees who are working within the service sector in Jordan. The outputs from smart partial least square SmartPLS analysis reveal that WRC effects EAC, which consequently affects innovative employee behaviour. Surprisingly, supportive leadership behaviour was found to play a moderating role in the relationship between WRC and EAC, but it has an inverse effect. These findings provide managers knowledge on how to enhance innovative employee behaviours by encouraging employee curiosity and absorptive capacity.

Impact of entrepreneurial leadership on project success: mediating role of knowledge management processes

Purpose

Drawing on the knowledge-based view (KBV), the study investigates the impact of entrepreneurial leadership (EL) on knowledge management (KM) processes and further examines the mediating role of KM processes on the linkage between EL and project success (PS).

Design/methodology/approach

Survey data were collected from 304 project workers in software projects, and the proposed relationships were assessed through SMART-PLS structural equation modeling tool.

Findings

The study found a significant impact of EL on KM processes and PS. The analysis also revealed that KM processes significantly impact project success while EL impact PS indirectly through KM processes.

Originality/value

The relevancy of the research stems from the scarcity of research on EL, while studies on the role of leadership as a predictor of KM are significantly limited. Additionally, there is a scarcity of research on the impact of KM on project success. This is one of the earliest studies that investigate the inter-relationship among EL, KM processes and project success.