Contribution of Twenty-first Century Leadership to the Employees’ Innovative Work Behavior: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Employee innovative work behavior drives the generation of new ideas, which in turn fosters organizational innovation and competitiveness. Many elementsinfluence this behavior, the most important being the leadership. The term"innovative work behavior" has evolved, and this has led to a great deal ofresearch looking into different leadership roles and how they affect employeeinnovation. The research on leadership in the context of employee creativity andinnovation is extensive and encompasses more than one hundred leadershiproles from various viewpoints. Undertaking a Systematic Literature Review (SLR)in this field is essential to establishing future leadership strategies that effectivelytackle the intricate problems of contemporary industries. The 608 empirical studiesincluded in the current SLR were retrieved from the reputable databases Scopusand Web of Science. These studies investigated how leadership in primary,secondary, and tertiary industries foster employee creativity and innovation. Threekey themes are identified by the study: a comprehensive evaluation of variousleadership studies; an industry-specific analysis that reveals a narrow focus in theprimary sector; and an investigation of the transformational, transactional, andhybrid leadership styles. The SLR established taxonomies to classify previousresearch, identify unexplored domains, and direct the selection of variables forsubsequent research. In the era of digitalization, the conventional dominance oftransformational and transactional leadership is under threat from the need fornovel approaches to problem-solving. The literature emphasizes the importance ofadaptive leadership styles and the shortcomings of old leadership paradigms intackling contemporary issues. The study followed five steps SLR method fromformulating the research topic, carrying out an exhaustive search, putting inclusionand exclusion criteria to use, picking and extracting data from pertinent studies,and to presenting and analyzing the results. The synthesis of a large body ofresearch in this SLR makes a substantial contribution to our knowledge of the rolethat leadership plays in employee creativity. The identification of underexploredindustries requires targeted research efforts to address opportunities andconstraints unique to the primary industry, particularly in the agriculture sector.This can be accomplished by categorizing leadership styles, recognizing markettrends, and recommending taxonomies for further investigation. In conclusion, thisstudy offers valuable insights for developing effective leadership strategies thatfoster innovative work behavior and accelerate organizational innovation in thetwenty-first century