Relationships between leadership, motivation and employee-level innovation: evidence from India
ISSN: 0048-3486
Article publication date: 9 March 2020
Issue publication date: 21 September 2020
Abstract
Purpose
Integrating the behavioral theory of leadership, the componential theory of creativity and the self-determination theory (SDT), the study tests the relationships between leadership, work motivation (intrinsic motivation, integrated extrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation) and employee-level innovation (innovative work behavior and innovation outcomes) in a work setting.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected using a survey questionnaire from 493 scientists working in India's largest civilian research and development (R&D) organization. The structural equation modeling (SEM) method was used to test the hypothesized relationships between the study variables.
Findings
The study found evidence for positive relationships between leadership, employee autonomous motivation (intrinsic and integrated extrinsic motivation) and employee-level innovation. The study shows that extrinsic motivation is positively related to innovation only when the value of rewards is integrated to one's sense of self (integrated extrinsic motivation). Extrinsic motivation, otherwise, is not related to innovation.
Research limitations
The study was cross-sectional, so inferences about causality are limited.
Practical implications
First, while extrinsic motivation is considered bad for innovation, the study provides evidence that integrated extrinsic motivation complements intrinsic motivation and encourages employee-level innovation. Second, the study shows that leaders can aid the process of development of autonomous motivation by displaying positive behaviors. Third, the study validates the mediating role of autonomous motivation for the leadership–innovation relationship.
Originality/value
The study provides an insight into the underlying process through which leaders can impact innovation at the workplace. To the best of the author's knowledge, such a study is the first of its kind undertaken in an organizational context.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author thanks the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, India, for allowing him to conduct the survey at its constituent R&D laboratories and for extending all possible help for completing the exercise in time. The author also thanks the scientists who agreed to participate in the study and gave their valuable inputs and time.
Citation
Gupta, V. (2020), "Relationships between leadership, motivation and employee-level innovation: evidence from India", Personnel Review, Vol. 49 No. 7, pp. 1363-1379. https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-11-2019-0595
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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