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Leadership, empowerment and innovation behavior linkages among knowledge workers: application of hierarchal component modeling approach

Sabzar Ahmad Peerzadah (Department of Commerce, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, India)
Sabiya Mufti (Department of Commerce, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, India)
Shayista Majeed (Department of Commerce, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, India)
Nazir Ahmed Nazir (Department of Commerce, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, India)

Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication

ISSN: 2514-9342

Article publication date: 9 September 2024

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Abstract

Purpose

Based on the Social Exchange Theory and Conservation of Resources Theory, this study aims to investigate the impact of transformational and transactional leadership on scientists’ innovative work behavior (IWB). It also examines the mediating effect of scientists’ psychological empowerment in the relationship between transformational leadership and IWB as well as between transactional leadership and IWB.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses a quantitative design and uses data from a sample size of 357 scientists from all five different subject domains of India’s largest civilian Research and Development (R&D) organization, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. Hierarchal component modeling (HCM) was performed for transformational leadership transactional leadership and psychological empowerment, whereas IWB was modeled as a first-order reflective construct. PLS-SEM was used to assess the study’s model and hypotheses.

Findings

It was found that transformational leadership is positively related to IWB and psychological empowerment mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and IWB. Moreover, transactional leadership was found to be positively related to IWB while psychological empowerment did not mediate the relationship between transactional leadership and IWB.

Originality/value

This study adds to IWB literature by empirically testing the mediating role of psychological empowerment between transformational leadership-IWB and transactional leadership-IWB link in the R&D context of an emerging economy using HCM.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors appreciate CSIR and its lab. directors for enabling the survey in different R&D laboratories, and extend thanks to the participating scientists for their valuable contributions. The corresponding author acknowledges the support received from MoMA-UGC India in the form of doctoral fellowship (JRF & SRF) from 2018 to 2023. The feedback from two anonymous referees and the editor was invaluable during the revision process of this paper. As the paper was prepared using the dataset of the first author’s doctoral thesis (its data came from part of a larger project), he expresses gratitude to the two external thesis examiners.

Funding: No specific funding was allocated for this paper.

Data availability: The data sets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Competing interest: All the authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Citation

Peerzadah, S.A., Mufti, S., Majeed, S. and Nazir, N.A. (2024), "Leadership, empowerment and innovation behavior linkages among knowledge workers: application of hierarchal component modeling approach", Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/GKMC-01-2024-0043

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited

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