Does empowering leadership help firms to establish collaborative culture and organizational commitment to stimulate frugal innovation?

Abstract

Purpose

Given innovation's significance, this research examines the link between empowered leadership and frugal innovation. The research also explores how collaborative cultures and organizational commitment mediate empowered leadership's effect on frugal innovation.

Design/methodology/approach

Quantitative method is used with the approach of hierarchical regression to test the hypotheses with data obtained from Pakistani small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through the questionnaire from 288 participants.

Findings

The results of this study show that empowered leadership has a considerable impact on the firm's capacity for frugal innovation. Additionally, this study shows that organizational commitment and collaborative culture significantly moderate the association between empowering leadership and frugal innovation.

Research limitations/implications

Future studies should examine mediating factors, including employment experience, education and perceived organizational support, and moderating variables like employee psychological empowerment and leadership styles.

Practical implications

This research advises SMEs in developing nations to utilize frugal innovation since they cannot afford to spend extensively on technologies that add creativity and innovation to goods and services.

Originality/value

This study advances how leadership both directly and indirectly helps organizations strengthen their capacity for frugal innovation through the mediating roles of collaborative culture and organizational commitment.

Citation

Waseel, A.H., Zhang, J., Shehzad, M.U., Saddiqa, A., Liu, J. and Hussain, S. (2025), "Does empowering leadership help firms to establish collaborative culture and organizational commitment to stimulate frugal innovation?", Kybernetes, Vol. 54 No. 2, pp. 1289-1318. https://doi.org/10.1108/K-05-2023-0786