How Women’s Transformational Leadership Induces Employees’ Innovative Behaviour Through Trust and Connectivity: A Sequential Mediation Model

Abstract

A number of women are leading a variety of organizations in Pakistan. The available research on the effectiveness of women’s leadership is not so clear, and there have been mixed findings across different contexts. The present research attempts to view women’s transformational leadership as a source of employees’ trust and connectivity that leads to innovative behaviour of employees in women-led organizations of Pakistan. The study also investigates the simple as well as sequential mediation of trust and connectivity in the relationship between women’s transformational leadership and employees’ innovative behaviour. Using a survey-based questionnaire, cross-sectional data were collected from 366 employees of different organizations which are led by women. These organizations include educational institutes, advertising agencies and fashion houses. The data were analysed using the MEDTHREE analysis for direct and indirect hypotheses (single and sequential mediations). The results indicate that women’s transformational leadership fosters trust, connectivity and innovative behaviour in the employees. Further, the results supported that employees’ trust in their leader and connectivity mediate the relationship between women’s leadership and innovative behaviour of the employees.