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The mediation between participative leadership and employee exploratory innovation: Examining intermediate knowledge mechanisms

Yi-Ying Chang (Department of Business Administration, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan)
Ian Hodgkinson (School of Business and Economics, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK)
Paul Hughes (De Montfort University, Leicester, UK)
Che-Yuan Chang (Department of Business Administration, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan)

Leadership & Organization Development Journal

ISSN: 0143-7739

Article publication date: 9 May 2019

Issue publication date: 9 May 2019

1668

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of intermediate knowledge mechanisms on the participative leadership–employee exploratory innovation relationship using a distal mediation model.

Design/methodology/approach

Deploying a time-lagged questionnaire method implemented over four business quarters, data are generated from 1,600 responses in R&D units of Taiwanese technology firms.

Findings

The structural equation modeling results reveal that participative leadership is positively related to employee exploratory innovation; coworker knowledge and absorptive capacity partially mediate the relationship between participative leadership and employee exploratory innovation independently; and coworker knowledge sharing in combination with absorptive capacity partially mediates this relationship.

Originality/value

The findings contribute new knowledge on the relationship between participative leadership and employee exploratory innovation by uncovering intermediate knowledge mechanisms that augment this relationship.

Keywords

Citation

Chang, Y.-Y., Hodgkinson, I., Hughes, P. and Chang, C.-Y. (2019), "The mediation between participative leadership and employee exploratory innovation: Examining intermediate knowledge mechanisms", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 40 No. 3, pp. 334-355. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-07-2018-0245

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited

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