Leadership plays a crucial role in fostering employee innovation. Which kind of leadership style is more closely associated with higher levels of employee innovation? This question remains a matter of debate in empirical research. To answer this question, this study proposes a theoretical framework based on self-determination theory (SDT) to explain the variation in correlation coefficients between different leadership styles and employee innovation. Using meta-analysis, this study synthesizes evidence from 432 independent empirical studies (229 in Chinese and 203 in English, with a total sample size of 161,599) to test the hypotheses. The results show that: (1) Transactional leadership, ethical leadership, transformational leadership, servant leadership, leader-member exchange (LMX), empowering leadership, inclusive leadership, and authentic leadership all have significant positive correlations with employee creative performance, with the correlation increasing; (2) factors such as individualism, the method of performance appraisal, the time point of data collection, the measurement of leadership styles, the measurement of employee creative performance, and publication language partially moderate the relationship between leadership styles and employee creative performance. The results align with the theoretical forecasting and contribute to the development of SDT. More importantly, this study provides key practical insights for managers by suggesting that employing the appropriate leadership style can effectively enhance employee creative performance.
Spiritual leadership is identified as an effective factor in promoting employees’innovative behavior. However, in China, this process may be influenced by both organizational and group factors. This study develops a moderated mediation model to examine the mechanisms by which spiritual leadership affects the innovative behavior of R&D personnel, drawing from a combined perspective of career calling and organizational support. Data are collected through matched-pair surveys from 513 R&D employees and their line leaders across innovative organizations in Beijing, Shenzhen, Harbin, and Xi'an. Data analysis is conducted using SPSS 22.0 and LISREL 8.5. The findings indicate that spiritual leadership positively influences the innovative behavior of R&D personnel. Furthermore, career calling serves as a mediating factor in the relationship between spiritual leadership and innovative behavior. This mediating process is positively moderated by relational energy and perceived organizational support for creativity; specifically, the effect of spiritual leadership on innovative behavior through career calling is significantly stronger when relational energy and perceived organizational support for creativity are high.
Employees are key drivers of organizational innovation, and their creative performance is crucial for the survival and growth of an organization. While external and innovation oriented management practices may produce short-term results, sustained and proactive innovation depends on employees’ intrinsic motivation, continuous learning, and psychological vitality. This study, drawing on social identity theory, examines the effect of organizational identification on employee creative performance, with a focus on the mediating role of thriving at work and the moderating effect of servant leadership. Using survey data collected at four different time points from 202 leader-subordinate pairs, the study employs Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling to test the proposed hypotheses. The findings indicate that organizational identification promotes employee creative performance through the partial mediation of thriving at work, with thriving at work-learning being more prominent than thriving at work-vitality. This indirect effect is further moderated by servant leadership. When servant leadership is strong, the positive effect of organizational identification on thriving at work and consequently on employee creative performance is amplified. Specifically, the mediating role of thriving at work learning is more significantly moderated by servant leadership than thriving at work vitality. These findings offer practical insights for fostering proactive innovation among employees and promoting sustainable development in enterprises
In contrast to traditional passive innovation behavior, proactive innovation behavior initiated by employees significantly impacts organizational performance. For manufacturing employees, proactive innovation behavior leads to high-quality innovation outcomes, thereby facilitating the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing sector. Trait mindfulness enhances self-awareness, stimulating intrinsic motivation, and proactive employee behavior. However, research exploring how trait mindfulness affects proactive innovation behavior in manufacturing is still limited. This study, anchored in self determination theory and viewed through intrinsic motivation, develops a chain mediation model whereby trait mindfulness influences proactive innovation through professional identity and thriving at work while examining the moderating role of a caring ethical climate. Utilizing a sample of 536 manufacturing employees, data analysis and hypothesis testing are performed using SPSS and Amos. The findings reveal that (1) trait mindfulness has a positive effect on proactive innovation behavior; (2) professional identity and thriving at work each act as partial mediators between trait mindfulness and proactive innovation behavior and together serve as chain mediators; and (3) a caring ethical climate positively moderates the relationship between trait mindfulness and both professional identity and thriving at work. Finally, management recommendations are proposed based on these empirical findings.
While the heterogeneous knowledge of a diverse workforce sparks innovation, it also poses many management challenges. Therefore, human resource practices that seek unity while embracing diversity have become a hot topic in both academia and industry. Based on the conservation of resources theory, this study defines the components of diversity & inclusion human resource practice (DI-HRP), uncovers the mechanism by which it influences employees’ innovative behavior through thriving at work, and examines the moderating role of shared leadership. Through multi-point tracking and hierarchical multiple regression analysis of 461 valid samples from 37 companies, this study finds that (1) DI-HRP positively influences employees’ innovative behavior; (2) thriving at work mediates the relationship between DI-HRP and employees’ innovative behavior; and (3) shared leadership positively moderates both the direct impact of DI-HRP on thriving at work and employees’ innovative behavior, as well as the indirect effect via thriving at work.
The bootlegging achievements initiated by employees play an important role in realizing high-quality development in China. Extant literature has not investigated the formation mechanism of bootleg innovation from the perspective of motivation. Therefore, this study integrates the cognitive factors of employees’ creative self-efficacy and psychological safety based on social cognitive theory and introduces performance prove goal orientation as the mediator from the perspective of motivation to explore its influence on bootleg innovation. Data collected from 468 employees from 53 technological companies at three time nodes demonstrate that: Creative self-efficacy and psychological safety can promote employees’ bootleg innovation; the combination of high creative self-efficacy and high psychological safety is more likely to drive bootleg innovation than the combination of double low levels of them; a consistent combination of creative self-efficacy and psychological safety is more likely to drive innovative behavior than an inconsistent combination of them; the combination of high creative self efficacy and low psychological security is more likely to drive bootleg innovation than the combination of the vice versa; employees’ creative self-efficacy and psychological security affect bootleg innovation mainly through the formation of performance-prove goal orientation; and the error management climate can positively moderate the mediating effect of performance-prove goal orientation. This study provides a new perspective on the formation mechanism of bootleg innovation and can serve as a practical reference for enterprises to motivate employees’ bootleg innovation.
Based on the description of Industrial 4.0, gig economy, sharing economy, employee sharing, and changes in the labor market, this study analyzes the important role of human capital management in these new environments. This study concludes that the human resource management focusing on promoting human capital of Chinese enterprises is confronted by the following development trends: localization mode, intelligent function, precise efficiency, and experiencing practice. Finally, in view of the above trends, the paper proposes that the government should support them through targeted policies and enterprises should maximize the value of their human capital. At the same time, employees should also make efforts to enhance their own sustainable human capital.