The relationship between leadership styles and organisational innovation : A systematic literature review and narrative synthesis
European Journal of Innovation Management
ISSN: 1460-1060
Article publication date: 9 March 2020
Issue publication date: 18 May 2021
Abstract
Purpose
This study explores the role of leadership in organisational innovation by reviewing several publications that discuss the relationship between various leadership styles and innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
The study followed a descriptive research methodology by reviewing 64 journal articles on the relationship between various leadership styles and innovation. The articles were analysed descriptively and then reviewed based on the leadership style it discusses to derive meaningful findings on the relationship between leadership and innovation.
Findings
Various leadership styles had a positive impact on organisational innovation either directly or indirectly, by influencing the organisational climate, employees' and leaders' behaviours or other organisational variables such as learning and knowledge sharing. Some leadership styles had both direct and indirect impacts on organisational innovation.
Research limitations/implications
This study collected journal articles published in almost all major electronic databases such as Emerald, ScienceDirect, Taylor & Francis and Scopus. However, the review is limited to journal articles in which the title, abstract or author-specified keywords contain the search terms “leadership” and “innovation,” and published between 2000 and 2019. Therefore, this review may miss some relevant research insights mentioned in the literature that discussed innovation or leadership separately not combined.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the existing body of research on leadership and innovation by extensively discussing the role of various leadership styles in determining organisational innovation. The analysis reveals that prior studies had many limitations and focused on specific leadership styles only. The study goes a step further by explaining how the leadership and innovation aspects are related, and classifying various leadership styles according to their impact on organisational innovation being direct, indirect or both.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This article is a part of an on-going PhD research. The authors would like to thank the editor and the anonymous referees for their valuable comments and suggestions that have improved this article significantly.
Citation
Alblooshi, M., Shamsuzzaman, M. and Haridy, S. (2021), "The relationship between leadership styles and organisational innovation : A systematic literature review and narrative synthesis", European Journal of Innovation Management, Vol. 24 No. 2, pp. 338-370. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJIM-11-2019-0339
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited