Abstract
Innovation is the primary driving force behind the development of China as a modern economic power. This study examines the impact of paternalistic leadership on innovation, proposing a theoretical model using the three dimensions of paternalistic leadership (i.e., benevolence, morality, and authoritarianism) as independent variables, constructive deviance as a mediating variable, and innovation performance as the dependent variable. Empirical results showed that benevolent and moral leadership has a positive impact on innovation performance while authoritarian leadership has a negative impact. Constructive deviance by employees has a positive impact on innovation performance. Benevolent and moral leadership has a positive impact on the constructive deviance of employees, while authoritarian leadership has a negative impact on constructive deviance. In addition, benevolent and moral leadership has a positive impact on innovation performance through the constructive deviance of employees, while the impact of authoritarian leadership is negative. In practice, leaders should recognize that constructive deviance is a double-edged sword and guide employees to engage in reasonable constructive deviant behavior, thereby creating sound organizational environments to foster innovation, eliminate barriers, and benefit from the positive impact of the constructive deviance of employees to enhance innovation performance.
Highlights
The modern development of China is driven by innovation
The results show that benevolent leadership has a significant positive relationship with innovation performance (β = 0.17, p < 0.05), moral leadership has a significant positive relationship with innovation performance (β = 0.23, p < 0.05), and authoritarian leadership has a significant negative relationship with innovation performance (β = −0.14, p < 0.05), confirming hypotheses H1, H2, and H3
While paternalistic leadership with Chinese characteristics fits the present development situation in China, this study seeks to understand the relationship between paternalistic leadership and innovation performance
Summary
The modern development of China is driven by innovation. Some scholars hold that the individual innovation of employees is the source of enterprise innovation and is the fundamental motivating force and foundation for improving enterprise innovation performance (Li et al, 2013). Leadership is a core enterprise component and has an important influence on innovation and organizational performance (Ma and Zhang, 2018). Western leadership theories cannot fully explain the leadership style and behavior of Chinese enterprises or their impact on innovation performance. Constructive deviant behavior is an out-of-role behavior in which employees take the initiative to violate organizational norms to promote the interests of the organization (Kura et al, 2016). This kind of behavior deviates from organizational norms, it adheres to the moral standards of the organization and benefits the organization. Under more complex and unpredictable conditions, employees may follow the principles of the organization while still actively deviating from inappropriate organizational norms to promote the healthy development of the organization
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