Empowering leadership and innovative work behavior: the mediating effects of climate for initiative and job autonomy in Moroccan SMEs
ISSN: 1450-2194
Article publication date: 14 July 2021
Issue publication date: 22 November 2022
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper was to explore the role of empowering leadership, organizational climate for initiative and job autonomy in spurring innovative work behavior (IWB).
Design/methodology/approach
This study resorted to the structural equation modeling technique along the Bayesian estimation approach to analyze the mediating role of the organizational climate for initiative and job autonomy in the empowering leadership-IWB link in data gathered from CEOs, middle managers and non-managerial employees of 444 small and medium enterprises in Morocco.
Findings
The findings revealed that empowering leadership is a prerequisite of IWB as subordinates, who are empowered by their leaders, demonstrate IWB. Further, organizational climate for initiative and job autonomy mediate the empowering leadership-IWB link.
Practical implications
This research has demonstrated that firms and organizational leaders who seek to make their middle managers innovative in their job should adopt empowering leadership practices, build an organizational climate that is favorable for initiative-taking and grant middle managers with autonomy in the way they carry out their tasks.
Originality/value
This paper extends our understanding on the mechanisms linking empowering leadership and IWB by testing the mediating effects of organizational climate for initiative and job autonomy.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 734447. The role of the funder consisted of providing financial support that was used to collect data for this research and to participate in international conferences.
Citation
Hassi, A., Rohlfer, S. and Jebsen, S. (2022), "Empowering leadership and innovative work behavior: the mediating effects of climate for initiative and job autonomy in Moroccan SMEs", EuroMed Journal of Business, Vol. 17 No. 4, pp. 503-518. https://doi.org/10.1108/EMJB-01-2021-0010
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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