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Unraveling the link between innovative work behavior and despotic leadership: the roles of supervisor conflict and dispositional resistance to change trait

Nasib Dar (Department of Business Administration, Sarhad University of Science and Information Technology, Peshawar, Pakistan)
Saima Ahmad (Graduate School of Business and Law, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia)
Kamal Badar (Nottingham University Business School, University of Nottingham, Semenyih, Malaysia)
Yasir Mansoor Kundi (School of Business Studies, Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan)

International Journal of Conflict Management

ISSN: 1044-4068

Article publication date: 8 January 2024

Issue publication date: 28 June 2024

421

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to probe the prevailing belief that engaging in innovative work behavior (IWB) will invariably lead to favorable outcomes. To do so, the paper integrates followership theory and cognitive dissonance theory to investigate the connection between employees’ IWB and despotic leadership, and the mediating role of interpersonal conflict with the supervisor in this connection. Moreover, the moderating impact of the supervisor’s dispositional resistance to change trait on the direct and indirect relationship between IWB and despotic leadership is explored.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were collected through a multi-wave survey of 350 employees and 81 supervisors working in 81 public schools.

Findings

The findings show that IWB has a positive and significant relationship with despotic leadership, and this relationship is mediated by interpersonal conflict with the supervisor.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that examines the link between IWB and despotic leadership via interpersonal/dyadic conflict and explores the moderating effect of leadership dispositional resistance to change trait in this indirect relationship.

Keywords

Citation

Dar, N., Ahmad, S., Badar, K. and Kundi, Y.M. (2024), "Unraveling the link between innovative work behavior and despotic leadership: the roles of supervisor conflict and dispositional resistance to change trait", International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 35 No. 4, pp. 816-834. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCMA-09-2023-0180

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited

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