Servant leadership and innovative behavior: a moderated mediation
Journal of Managerial Psychology
ISSN: 0268-3946
Article publication date: 4 October 2019
Issue publication date: 23 October 2019
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the cross-level effect of servant leadership on employee innovative behavior by studying the mediating role of thriving at work and the moderating role of team reflexivity.
Design/methodology/approach
This research collected data from 199 dyads of employees and their direct supervisors in 55 work units, and tested a cross-level moderated mediation model using multilevel path analysis.
Findings
The findings suggest that thriving at work mediates the relationship between servant leadership and innovative behavior. The results also show that team reflexivity positively moderates the relationship between servant leadership and thriving at work and the mediating effect of thriving at work.
Practical implications
The empirical findings suggest that organizations should make efforts to promote servant leadership and encourage team reflexivity. Moreover, managers should make efforts to stimulate employees’ thriving at work, thereby facilitating employee and organizational development.
Originality/value
This research identifies thriving at work as a key mediator that links servant leadership to innovative behavior and reveals the role of team reflexivity in strengthening the effect of servant leadership on employee innovative behavior.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research is partly supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for Central Universities in China (Grant No. 2017XKQY087), the Humanities and Social Sciences Research Funds of the Chinese Education Ministry (Grant No. 17YJA630104) and the Double First-Class Initiative Project for Cultural Evolution and Creation of China University of Mining and Technology (Grant No. 2018WHCC03/05).
Citation
Wang, Z., Meng, L. and Cai, S. (2019), "Servant leadership and innovative behavior: a moderated mediation", Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 34 No. 8, pp. 505-518. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMP-11-2018-0499
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited