Organizational climate for initiative and innovative work behavior: a moderated mediation model

Botha L., Steyn R.

Rohlfer S., Hassi A., Jebsen S.

ABSTRACTExposing 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.

Shakil R.M., Memon M.A., Ting H.

The aim of this study is to investigate the role of inclusive leadership as a predictor of job autonomy and innovative work behaviour (IWB). The study also examines the mediating role of job autonomy between the inclusive leadership and IWB. The sample consisted of employees from 15 private healthcare institutions operating in Bangladesh. Two questionnaire surveys were carried out using a three-month time lag strategy. A total of 226 samples were used for the analysis of the final data. The Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling, using SmartPLS 3.0, was performed to test the hypothesized relationships. The results suggest a causal relationship between inclusive leadership, job autonomy and IWB. In brief, inclusive leadership turned out to be a predictor of job autonomy and IWB, and job autonomy had a positive impact on employees’ IWB. In addition, job autonomy proved to be a mediator between inclusive leadership and employees’ IWB. To date, limited efforts have been undertaken to investigate the links between inclusive leadership, job autonomy and IWB. Specifically, the mediating role of job autonomy between inclusive leadership and the IWB remained unexplored. The present research fills this gap. Additionally, the findings provide pragmatic insights for healthcare practitioners to consider inclusive leadership in order to increase employee job autonomy and IWB in healthcare organizations.

Kör B., Wakkee I., van der Sijde P.

With the rapid development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), digital technology changes how banks translate new customer demands into new products and services. To achieve this translation, banks should increase their intrapreneurship capability through Individual-level Innovative Behavior (IIB). However, research on how to manage and promote manager's IIB in the workplace is still at the nascent stage. Therefore, this study investigates an under-researched topic: how Perceived Organizational Innovativeness (POI) affects manager's IIB through self-leadership strategies, and whether perceived organizational risk-taking and the gender of the respondents facilitate or impede the process. The study surveys 340 managers in the Turkish banking sector and analyses the results through SEM. The findings indicate that POI, self-leadership, and strategies of self-leadership are positively related to manager's IIB. Further, the results show that self-leadership fully mediates the relationship between POI and manager's IIB and that the perceived organizational risk-taking and gender of the respondents moderate the mediating effect of self-leadership on the relationship between POI and manager's IIB. Overall, the contribution of the research is not only to gain a more holistic understanding of manager's IIB antecedents but also to provide managers or practitioners with guidance on designing organizational environments that encourage innovation in the technology-driven sector. • The study explores a holistic perspective of managers’ Individual-level Innovative Behavior (IIB) in an integrative model. • There is a direct effect of Perceived Organizational Innovativeness (POI) on manager’s IIB. • Self-leadership positively mediates the effect of POI on manager’s IIB. • Perceived organizational risk-taking and gender of the respondents positively moderate this mediating effect.

Bibi S., Khan A., Qian H., Garavelli A.C., Natalicchio A., Capolupo P.

In the past few decades, a firm’s innovative climate has received much attention in the context of innovative behavior, competitiveness, and business performance. The existing literature has relied to a great extent on innovative climate as an interacting factor and overlooked its role as an antecedent of various organizational phenomena. Furthermore, the interaction effects of the firm’s size and age on the relationships between innovative climate and other organizational variables have gone unnoticed. This study adds to the literature by empirically assessing the effects of the firm’s innovative climate on organizational learning and employees’ innovative behavior as well as its consequences on the firm’s competitiveness and business performance. Additionally, it addresses the interaction impacts of firm size and age on the relationships between the abovementioned variables. This research achieves its goal by developing an integrative research design that analyzes complex relations using covariance-based structural equation modeling (SEM) and regression techniques on a dataset of 408 Chinese law firms. The results indicate that the firm’s innovative climate has a significant positive relationship with organizational learning and employees’ innovative behavior. It is also found that organizational learning has a significant positive influence on employees’ innovative behavior. Meanwhile, organizational learning and employees’ innovative behavior have a significant positive influence on firm competitiveness and business performance. Another important finding is that contextual factors, i.e., firm size and age, strengthen these relations. Theoretical and managerial implications, including links to firm size and age, are provided.

Granstrand O., Holgersson M.

The concept of innovation ecosystems has become popular during the last 15 years, leading to a debate regarding its relevance and conceptual rigor, not the least in this journal. The purpose of this article is to review received definitions of innovation ecosystems and related concepts and to propose a synthesized definition of an innovation ecosystem. The conceptual analysis identifies an unbalanced focus on complementarities, collaboration, and actors in received definitions, and among other things proposes the additional inclusion of competition, substitutes, and artifacts in conceptualizations of innovation ecosystems, leading to the following definition: An innovation ecosystem is the evolving set of actors, activities, and artifacts, and the institutions and relations, including complementary and substitute relations, that are important for the innovative performance of an actor or a population of actors . This definition is compatible with related conceptualizations of innovation systems and natural ecosystems, and the validity of it is illustrated with three empirical examples of innovation ecosystems. • We review received definitions of the innovation ecosystem concept. • We identify seven key components of the concept. • We provide a new synthesized definition. • We validate and illustrate the definition with three empirical examples.

Susomrith P., Amankwaa A.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to enable management decisions to develop innovation within an organisation by examining the relationship between job embeddedness (JE) and innovative work behaviour (IWB) while also considering the moderating effect of life satisfaction upon this relationship. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 213 employees of small- and medium-sized organisations in Thailand. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to assess the reliability of the measures and validity of the constructs. Multiple regression and PROCESS Macro techniques were used to test the direct and moderation effects. Findings The two components of JE, organisational and community embeddedness, were found to positively predict IWB. Additionally, life satisfaction was found to moderate the relationship between organisational embeddedness and IWB, but not the relationship between community embeddedness and IWB. At low levels of life satisfaction, the JE and IWB relationship was non-existent. Practical implications Organisations can potentially foster employee innovation by adopting strategies that seek to strengthen employee embeddedness in the organisation and in their community. Originality/value Studies on the effect of JE on IWB, particularly in small and medium enterprises and the influence of life satisfaction is sparse. This study redresses this imbalance in the knowledge base.

Newman A., Round H., Wang S., Mount M.

Hassi A.

Purpose This study aims to examine a model that uses climate for creativity as an intervening mechanism for the relationship of empowering leadership to management innovation in the hospitality industry. Design/methodology/approach The sample comprises 127 hotels in Morocco. Data were gathered from two sources, namely, the administrative department managers and the front desk managers. Structural equation modeling analyses along with the Bayesian estimation technique were used. Findings Findings demonstrate that the climate for creativity plays a mediating role between empowering leadership and management innovation. The climate for creativity dimensions of employee creativity recognition, flexibility to change and adequate resources for innovation pave the way for empowering leaders in the adoption of new management practices, processes or structures. Practical implications This study suggests that climate for creativity can be an effective tool for implementing management innovation. Hence, leaders and managers of hotel firms, who aim to obtain innovative results in the managerial spheres, should capitalize on the benefits of building a positive climate for creativity. Originality/value The present paper bridges a gap pertaining to antecedents and factors that impact management innovation. It is the first of its kind to investigate the influence of empowering leadership on management innovation with climate for creativity as a mediating variable.

Theurer C.P., Tumasjan A., Welpe I.M.

In environments experiencing fast technological change in which innovative performance is expected, work design research has found that the degree of autonomy positively predicts behavioral and attitudinal work outcomes. Because extant work design research has tended to examine the direct and mediating effects of autonomy on work outcomes such as job satisfaction, examinations of more situational elements and the degree to which the organizational context strengthens or weakens this relationship has been neglected. This study, therefore, takes a context-contingent perspective to investigate the degree to which psychological climate dimensions such as supervisor support, organizational structure and organizational innovation moderate the effects of autonomy (work scheduling autonomy, work methods autonomy, decision-making autonomy) on employee perceived innovative work behavior (IWB). Using a conjoint experiment based on 9,440 assessments nested within 1,180 employees, it was found that all autonomy dimensions had a significant direct effect on employee perceived IWB. Contrary to the Hypotheses, the multi-level analysis did not reveal any moderating effect of the climate dimensions on the relationship between autonomy and employee IWB. This study provides a context-contingent view for the features of work design and gives a more detailed analysis of autonomy, which has previously been seen primarily as a unidimensional construct.

Sanz-Valle R., Jiménez-Jiménez D.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically analyse the mediator effect of innovative work behaviour (IWB) between the firm’s human resource management system and product innovation. Design/methodology/approach Data are collected from 225 Spanish manufacture companies. Hypotheses are tested using structured equation modelling. The structural model is estimated through partial least squares modelling. Findings The results provide strong evidence about the effect of the system of human resource management practices on both, employee’s IWB and product innovation. Furthermore, findings support the idea that employee’s IWB mediates the relationship between human resource management and product innovation. Research limitations/implications Although the study counts with the limitations of cross-sectional studies, its findings suggest that employees’ IWB fosters product innovation and that the adoption of a high-performance work system is positively associated to such behaviour. Practical implications This paper shows that companies seeking to foster product innovation should pay attention to their employees’ behaviour. In particular, they should promote that employees engage in innovative behaviours, and that adopting high-performance human resource management practices can help in this line. Originality/value Although a number of studies suggest that IWB is a key determinant of innovation and a mediator in the link between human resource management and innovation, there is no empirical research examining these relationships. This paper covers this gap detected in the literature and provides evidence supporting them.

Scott S.G., Bruce R.A.

Stock R., Groß M., Xin K.R.

Liu F., Chow I.H., Zhang J., Huang M.

The present study proposes that psychological ownership for the organization and psychological empowerment are important determinants of individual innovative behavior, and serve as moderators of the climate–innovation relationship. In a study of 804 employees from 157 firms in China, we found that both of these two psychological variables had a positive relationship with individual innovative behavior. Additionally, we found psychological empowerment served as a moderator of the climate–innovation relationship, such that the relationship was stronger for individuals high in psychological empowerment. This study contributes to further understanding of the climate–innovation relationship.

Burcharth A., Præst Knudsen M., Søndergaard H.A.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how organisational activities that formally provide employees with work autonomy explain the performance of open innovation (OI). Design/methodology/approach The study reports the results of mediation analyses conducted on the basis of survey data from 307 firms. Findings The economic benefits of both inbound and outbound OI are fully captured only if firms provide employees with time, freedom and independence. The results show that employee autonomy fully mediates the relationship between openness and innovation sales, while the adoption of inbound OI is positively associated with the introduction of new products. Practical implications The opening of innovation induces managers to provide employees with discretion, as OI requires high levels of flexibility and experimentation. Originality/value The paper addresses theoretically and empirically the role of job design in the implementation of OI, while also distinguishing between the effects of inbound and outbound practices on innovation performance.