Entrepreneurial leadership and employees’ innovative behavior: A sequential mediation analysis of innovation climate and employees’ intellectual agility

Abstract

Despite previous research demonstrating the importance of entrepreneurial leadership in fostering innovative behavior among employees, less is known about the mechanisms and processes through which leaders influence their employees’ innovative behavior. By utilizing social cognitive theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine the sequential role of innovation climate and employees’ intellectual agility in mediating the link between entrepreneurial leadership and employees’ innovative behavior. We collected 241 data points from full-time employees in the US using the survey method and tested our hypotheses using hierarchical multiple regression and PROCESS Macro. Entrepreneurial leadership was found to significantly impact employees’ innovative behavior through the innovation climate and their intellectual agility. These findings allow leaders to pinpoint their critical roles in fostering innovation in their businesses and establishing the ideal culture and climate for innovation. It also allows leaders to create innovative settings to encourage employees to share ideas and concepts in a confident manner. A discussion of the findings, implications, limitations, and future research avenues is included.