Management Innovation and Middle Managers: The Role of Empowering Leadership, Voice, and Collectivist Orientation

ABSTRACT

Exposing under which conditions management innovation diffuses within firms, this study investigates at the individual level the mediating influence of middle managers’ voice behavior on the relationship between CEOs’ empowering leadership behavior and perceived management innovation. We also propose that the magnitude of this relationship depends on middle managers’ collectivist orientation. This study exploits a unique Moroccan sample of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and utilizes structural equation modeling to analyze the studied relations. We found that the positive relationship between CEOs’ empowering leadership behavior and management innovation is mediated by middle managers’ voice. This effect is conditioned by middle managers’ collectivist orientations, which positively influence their attention to CEOs’ signals and the value and frequency of their contributions to management innovation. While research has identified the external and organizational factors that shape management innovation, our study concentrates on the individual level and accentuates that middle managers’ closeness to management processes, combined with their access to technical knowledge, renders them essential to management innovation. We contradict arguments that middle managers may be less inclined to help management innovation to emerge. SMEs can systematically invest in management innovation by advancing their managerial capabilities and considering individual value orientations.