Servant Leadership and Innovative Behaviour: An Empirical Analysis of Ghana’s Manufacturing Sector

Mavis Agyemang Opoku,Suk Bong Choi,Seung-Wan Kang

doi:10.3390/su11226273

Mavis Agyemang Opoku, Suk Bong Choi + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su11226273

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Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: Nov 8, 2019
Citations: 32	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Gachon University, Korea University

Abstract

In the competitive global market, innovation is vital to a firm’s longevity. To this end, organisations seek new and alternative ways to motivate employee innovation. This study examines the role of servant leadership as an antecedent to innovation. Drawing on the social identity model, this study examines the effect of servant leadership, team-member exchange (TMX) and perceived insider status on employee innovative behaviour. Primary data were collected from six manufacturing companies in Ghana. Using a sample of 213 employees and their immediate supervisors, a confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to test the discriminant validity of our measurement model. Hierarchical multiple regression was then used to determine direct and interaction effects, followed by bootstrapping tests to identify mediation and moderated mediation effects. The results showed that servant leadership and TMX are significantly related to perceived insider status. The bootstrapping indirect test and Sobel test demonstrated that perceived insider status mediates the relationship between servant leadership and innovative work behaviour. Moreover, the mediated relationship is only significant when TMX is low. This study empirically validated servant leadership as an antecedent to employee innovative behaviour. The findings demonstrated that perceived insider status is a mediating mechanism in this relationship, with TMX as its boundary condition.

Highlights

Since the 1990s, there has been a steady increase in the number of publications relating to innovation [1]
People in low-status groups feel implicitly threatened and go to great lengths to differentiate themselves from high-status groups. We extend this rationale of the social identity theory and argue that employees who experience low team-member exchange (TMX) may feel a greater need to prove themselves as worthy ingroup members, strengthening the saliency of servant leadership as well as the perceived insider status to affect innovative behaviour
Consistent with our predictions, servant leadership has a significant correlation with perceived insider status, and innovative work behaviour (i.e., r = 0.42, p < 0.01; r = 0.47, p < 0.01, respectively)

Summary

Introduction

Since the 1990s, there has been a steady increase in the number of publications relating to innovation [1]. The growth reflects an increasingly dynamic global market where the ability to develop and implement new products, services or work processes gives one organisation a competitive edge over another [2]. Innovation has been identified as an alternative that fosters sustainability because it allows for the development of strategic tools to support management in organising operations [4]. This has motivated researchers and businesses to look for creative ways to stimulate and motivate innovative behaviour among followers and employees [5]

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Conclusion