Antecedents of Innovative Behaviour: Knowledge Sharing, Open Innovation Climate and Internal Communication

Abstract

Innovative behaviour is currently considered to be a key factor for the competitive advantage of organisations. In this study, we analyse the role of three antecedent variables of innovative behaviour - knowledge sharing, open innovation climate, and internal communication. Three dimensions of internal communication are considered - organisational communication, communication with superiors, and communication with peers. We used a sample of 138 employees from a consulting firm to test a conceptual model with partial least squares (PLS). The results indicate that only knowledge sharing is an antecedent of innovative behaviour in the organisation studied. Communication with superiors and communication with peers are both antecedents of knowledge sharing, but not of innovative behaviour. Furthermore, the results also indicate that knowledge sharing mediates between communication with superiors and innovative behaviour. Organisational communication and communication with superiors are antecedents of open innovation climate, but the latter does not have a significant relationship with innovative behaviour.