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

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  • Mavis Agyemang Opoku

    (College of Business, Gachon University, Seongnam 13120, Korea)

  • Suk Bong Choi

    (College of Global Business, Korea University, 2511 Sejong-ro, Sejong City 30019, Korea)

  • Seung-Wan Kang

    (College of Business, Gachon University, Seongnam 13120, Korea)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Mavis Agyemang Opoku & Suk Bong Choi & Seung-Wan Kang, 2019. "Servant Leadership and Innovative Behaviour: An Empirical Analysis of Ghana’s Manufacturing Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-18, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:22:p:6273-:d:284872
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Zhongzhen Miao & Huanyong Ji, 2020. "Challenges to the Promotion of Employee-Driven Innovation in State-Owned Enterprises: Two Cases from the Automotive Sector in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-16, March.
    2. Jincen Xiao & Jih-Yu Mao & Sihao Huang & Tao Qing, 2020. "Employee-Organization Fit and Voluntary Green Behavior: A Cross-Level Model Examining the Role of Perceived Insider Status and Green Organizational Climate," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-18, March.
    3. Jae-Heon Do & Seung-Wan Kang & Suk Bong Choi, 2021. "The Effect of Perceived Supervisor–Subordinate Congruence in Honesty on Emotional Exhaustion: A Polynomial Regression Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-16, September.
    4. Abida Ellahi & Mobashar Rehman & Yasir Javed & Fahd Sultan & Hafiz Mudassir Rehman, 2022. "Impact of Servant Leadership on Project Success Through Mediating Role of Team Motivation and Effectiveness: A Case of Software Industry," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(3), pages 21582440221, September.
    5. Wenjing Cai & Svetlana Khapova & Bart Bossink & Evgenia Lysova & Jing Yuan, 2020. "Optimizing Employee Creativity in the Digital Era: Uncovering the Interactional Effects of Abilities, Motivations, and Opportunities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-19, February.
    6. Mavis Agyemang Opoku & Hyejung Yoon & Seung-Wan Kang & Myoungsoon You, 2021. "How to Mitigate the Negative Effect of Emotional Exhaustion among Healthcare Workers: The Role of Safety Climate and Compensation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-15, June.
    7. Shah Ali Murtaza & Asif Mahmood & Saima Saleem & Naveed Ahmad & Muhammad Suhail Sharif & Edina Molnár, 2021. "Proposing Stewardship Theory as an Alternate to Explain the Relationship between CSR and Employees’ Pro-Environmental Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-15, July.
    8. Naveed Ahmad & Miklas Scholz & Muhammad Zulqarnain Arshad & Syed Khuram Ali Jafri & Raja Irfan Sabir & Waris Ali Khan & Heesup Han, 2021. "The Inter-Relation of Corporate Social Responsibility at Employee Level, Servant Leadership, and Innovative Work Behavior in the Time of Crisis from the Healthcare Sector of Pakistan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-16, April.
    9. Mavis Agyemang Opoku & Suk Bong Choi & Seung-Wan Kang, 2019. "Psychological Safety in Ghana: Empirical Analyses of Antecedents and Consequences," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-20, December.
    10. Jianji Zeng & Guangyi Xu, 2020. "How Servant Leadership Motivates Innovative Behavior: A Moderated Mediation Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-14, July.

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