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This study aims to explore the relationship between transformational leadership and employees’ innovative work behaviour (IWB), additionally examining the mediating effect of psychological empowerment.

The study is based on a cross-sectional design, data being collected from 139 employees through the following structured questionnaires: Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, IWB and psychological empowerment instrument.

The findings revealed a positive and significant relationship between transformational leadership and both IWB and psychological empowerment, as well as the fact that transformational leadership, through psychological empowerment, fosters IWB.

One of the main weaknesses of this study is the use of a cross-sectional design, which does not allow for an assessment of the cause–effect relation. Also, using a self-reported questionnaire might have brought common method bias.

The paper shows that, by creating a greater sense of empowerment, leaders could have a higher positive effect on employee’s levels of IWB. Moreover, empowerment acts as one of the most important and effective processes within the transformational leadership framework in fostering innovation among followers.

This study extends the empirical research on transformational leadership and its influence on employees’ work attitudes. Given the scant research on the role of the psychological empowerment, the results of this study confirm not only its mediating role but also the need for further studies in this direction.

This study aims to investigate the intricate relations between self-regulated learning, life-long learning and academic self-efficacy, while also evaluating the mediating influence of future time orientation.

Utilizing a cross-sectional research design, data were amassed from 2,943 Romanian secondary school students in 11th and 12th grades via structured questionnaires: the self-regulated learning questionnaire, the academic self-efficacy scale, the future orientation scale derived from the Zimbardo time perspective inventory (ZTPI) and the lifelong learning scale.

The findings corroborate that self-regulated learning and academic self-efficacy when mediated by future time orientation, bolster life-long learning.

These results indicate that enhancing comprehension of future time orientation within the educational framework could potentially boost life-long learning.

This work is an original contribution, synthesizing existing literature, empirical findings and theoretical frameworks to advance our understanding of the multifaceted relationships shaping individuals' learning journey throughout their lives. Our focus on the mediating influence of future orientation adds a novel dimension to understanding the mechanisms through which individuals actively engage in learning throughout their lives.

The purpose of the present research is to introduce a combined framework that integrates innovative work behavior, product innovation process and customer knowledge management; then, to explore the mediating effect of customer knowledge management in the relationship between innovative work behavior and the product innovation process.

The basis for the present research is a cross-sectional design. Data collection from 154 employees occurred using the following structured questionnaires: Customer Knowledge Management (CKM), Innovative Work Behavior (IWB) and Product Innovation Process (PIP). Data processing used SPSS version 26.0, including the PROCESS (3.5) macro analysis.

The results show positive relationships between innovative work behavior and the product innovation process (r = 0.420, p < 0.01). Pearson's correlation shows a coefficient of 0.42, meaning that 42% of the variations in perceived product innovation are due to variations in innovative work behavior. The second condition of the mediation test involved testing the relationship between the independent variable (Innovative Work Behavior) and the mediating variable (Knowledge Management) and showed a significant relationship (r = 0.272, p < 0.01). The findings suggested that knowledge management that other determinants supported, such as collaboration in idea exploration, idea championing and encouragement of participation in idea implementation, significantly contributed to the product innovation process (r = 0.509, p < 0.01). The bootstrapping method confirmed that innovative work behavior supports product innovation through the mediation of customer knowledge management (z = 3.01, p = 0.002).

The cross-sectional design, along with the relatively low number of participants and the self-reporting nature of the questionnaires, represent the current study's main limitations. Developing the research model could integrate new variables, such as customer co-creation processes, performance-based compensation, employee citizenship activities and transformational leadership.

This research has both theoretical and practical implications. These emphasize the importance of further investigation into the factors influencing companies' innovation processes. They also provide managers with a means of finding a fit between the deployment of customer knowledge mechanisms and the achievement of innovative workplace behavior, to improve innovation process efficiency.

The current study broadens the empirical research area of customer knowledge management and its impact on both innovative work behavior and the product innovation process, particularly in knowledge-intensive market scenarios that require organizations to be innovative.

The study seeks to investigate the impact of intellectual capital (IC) management on the performance and agility of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Romania, with a particular focus on the post-COVID-19 recovery period. By examining the roles of human, structural and relational capital, the study sets out to provide insights into how SMEs can build resilience against future socioeconomic disruptions and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.

A quantitative research method was employed, utilizing a questionnaire distributed to 121 managers from Romanian SMEs. The collected data was analyzed using SmartPLS 4 software to test hypotheses regarding the role of intellectual capital management in enhancing organizational agility and performance.

IC, especially human capital, substantially influences organizational agility and performance in SMEs. Findings confirm that adapting to a dynamic work environment requires that SMEs invest in employee development, foster strong internal and external relationships, and embrace new technologies. Furthermore, building an adaptive organizational culture open to change and learning is essential for sustaining long-term competitive advantage in an unpredictable market.

The study advances theoretical and practical recommendations for academics, managers and policymakers on leveraging IC to enhance organizational agility and performance, offering a roadmap for organizations navigating systemic crises. The main limitation is the context-driven focus of the research on Romanian SMEs.

Switching to the practical implications, this research offers managers of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in Romania insightful knowledge about how to strategically manage IC to improve organizational agility and performance and illustrates the need for the SMEs to invest in the human capital, to adapt quickly to the market changes and to invest their resources in integrating new technologies, alongside with building strong relationships (both inside and outside the organization) and to cultivate an adaptive organizational culture that is open to change and to learn.

This study provides guidance to the Romanian managers in finding the key to success, by ensuring competitiveness in the nowadays dynamic market, foster innovation and boost the agility and the performance of the organization.

The research is the first one to address the strategic importance of IC management in Romanian SMEs with a view to attaining agility and performance in turbulent times.