Towards a Sustainable Model of Innovative Work Behaviors’ Enhancement: The Mediating Role of Employability

Jol Stoffers,Beatrice Van Der Heijden,Ilse Schrijver

doi:10.3390/su12010159

Abstract

In this mixed methods study, a moderated mediation model predicting effects of leader-member exchange (LMX) and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) on innovative work behaviors, with employability as a mediator, has been tested. Multi-source data from 487 pairs of employees and supervisors working in 151 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) supported our hypothesized model. The results of structural equation modelling provide support for our model. In particular, the benefits of close relationships and high-quality exchanges between employee and supervisor (LMX), and fostering individual development as a result of employees’ OCB have an indirect effect on innovative work behaviors through positive effects on workers’ employability. Innovative work behaviors depend on employees’ knowledge, skills, and expertise. In other words, enhancing workers’ employability nurtures innovative work behaviors. In addition, we found a moderation effect of organizational politics on the relationship between employability and innovative work behaviors. Secondly, qualitative methods focusing on experiences of the antecedents and outcomes of employability were used to complement our quantitative results. All in all, this study has important consequences for managerial strategies and practices in SMEs and call for an awareness of the dysfunctional effect of perceived organizational politics.

Highlights

Organizations that experience growth frequently launch new product features, offer better services, and incorporate more efficient and effective internal processes [1]; in other words, increasing and maintaining market share requires sustainable organizational innovation [2]
Innovation is vital for organizations, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to deal with challenges related to the Sustainable Development Goals introduced by the United Nations (UN) [3] and to promote humane and productive organizations [4]
Notwithstanding the exemplary work by Witt [8], who, building upon social learning processes, already stressed the importance of collectively shared interpretation patterns and the importance of leadership aimed at inducing firm members to take responsibility and to engage in creative problem-solving and to be innovative, we argue that there is more work needed in order to unravel the social dimension of organizational sustainability

Summary

Introduction

Organizations that experience growth frequently launch new product features, offer better services, and incorporate more efficient and effective internal processes [1]; in other words, increasing and maintaining market share requires sustainable organizational innovation [2]. Notwithstanding the exemplary work by Witt [8], who, building upon social learning processes, already stressed the importance of collectively shared interpretation patterns and the importance of leadership aimed at inducing firm members to take responsibility and to engage in creative problem-solving and to be innovative, we argue that there is more work needed in order to unravel the social dimension of organizational sustainability. We focus on several aspects related to the social dimension that are deemed to be important in the light of enhancing innovative work behaviors in firms. To understand how innovative work behaviors can be enhanced, predictor variables that all refer to the ability to relate to others (for instance, one’s supervisor), in particular, the ability to perceive someone else’s thoughts, feelings, and motivations (e.g., perspective-taking), and to engage with one another in the day-to-day practice, were hypothesized. Davis [16] found that perspective-taking, among others, is positively correlated with social competences, being an important ingredient of employability (see [17,18]), which has been defined as the extent to which employees are able and willing to remain working and in the future [19]

Methods

Results

Conclusion