Multilevel transformational leadership and management innovation

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi-Ying Chang

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to extend management innovation theory and research by going beyond analysis at a single level. Focussing on management innovation at the lower level in the organizational hierarchy, the authors develop a multilevel framework; in doing so, the authors answer earlier calls for a study of the effects of multilevel transformational leadership (TFL) on management innovation and innovation in general. Design/methodology/approach – This study collected multisource and multilevel data from 169 managers, 423 employees of 141 units from 21 banking service firms in an emerging economy. Findings – The results from hierarchial linear modeling analysis reveal that unit-level TFL was positively related to unit-level management innovation. Furthermore, firm-level TFL was positively associated with firm-level empowerment climate, which in turn enhanced unit-level management innovation. In addition, firm-level empowerment climate strengthened the relationship between unit-level TFL and unit-level management innovation. Finally, the unit-level trust mediates the relationship between firm-level empowerment climate and unit-level management innovation. Practical implications – Firms operate more effectively when they generate management innovation. To help ensure the effectiveness of management innovation, it is essential that firms, especially those from the banking sector, encourage their managers to engage in TFL behaviors. The managers must consider how to utilize their TFL behaviors to create trusting relationships in order to achieve the organizational goals. Firms can also take steps to develop a supportive climate of higher levels of autonomy, delegation, freedom and task accountability, in order to promote higher levels of trust at the lower levels of the organizational hierarchy. Originality/value – The current study develops and tests a mediation model that links firm-level TFL to unit-level management innovation, and identifies unit-level trust as the intermediate outcome. With this theorizing and the findings, the authors deepen the current knowledge regarding the organizational implications of TFL behaviors for management innovation.

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (6) ◽  
pp. 812-833 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi-Ying Chang ◽  
Che-Yuan Chang ◽  
Chung-Wen Chen

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how transformational leadership may relate to corporate entrepreneurship by adopting a multilevel approach. The authors also theorized and tested the top-down and bottom-up intermediate process linking transformational leadership and corporate entrepreneurship. Design/methodology/approach Multisource data across different timeframes were collected from 129 managers and 244 employees from 55 units of 27 firms. Findings The results showed that transformational leadership and corporate entrepreneurship were positively related at the unit level. Furthermore, unit-level collective efficacy mediated the relationship between unit-level transformational leadership and unit-level corporate entrepreneurship. The authors also found that the firm-level empowerment climate moderated the indirect effect of unit-level collective efficacy on the relationship between unit transformational leadership and unit-level corporate entrepreneurship. Originality/value First, the goal of this study is to extend the single focus of transformational leadership on corporate entrepreneurship (e.g. Ling et al., 2008) and develop a more thoughtful approach on determining how transformational leaders influence corporate entrepreneurship across levels. This study responds to calls for research to look at the impact of unit-level transformational leaders, such as middle managers, across levels (Ren and Guo, 2011) and creates a multilevel framework in which transformational leaders at the unit level influence the appearance of corporate entrepreneurship at the unit level.


2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 424-444 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi-Ying Chang

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test a multilevel model, supported by an ambidexterity perspective, to examine the process linking high-performance work systems (HPWS) and organizational ambidexterity using both unit- and firm-level analyses. Design/methodology/approach – The author collected multisource and multilevel data from 346 employees and 184 managers of 33 electronic engineering firms. Findings – The results revealed that unit HPWS were positively related to unit organizational ambidexterity. The author considers that the role of firm-level transformational leadership (TFL) is to create a climate of autonomy that can be delegated to promote organizational ambidexterity within units. Furthermore, a firm-level empowerment climate moderates the effect of unit-level HPWS on a unit’s organizational ambidexterity. The author contributes to the research on leadership and ambidexterity by revealing the impact of HPWS as experienced in the unit- and of firm-level TFL. The author also identify boundary conditions for pursuing unit organizational ambidexterity. Originality/value – Responding to the call for more research into the effects of the empowerment climate on employees’ behaviors and the behavioral outcomes of employees, this research reveals that not only is the macro perspective of HPWS at the organizational level useful to promote ambidextrous activities at lower levels, but also that the unit experience of HPWS more directly affects employees’ behaviors in engaging in the search for new opportunities for new products/services and refining current products simultaneously at the unit level. The broader implication is that the effectiveness of HPWS as an antecedent for organizational ambidexterity (Gibson and Birkinshaw, 2004; Kang and Snell, 2009) depends on the unit experience of HPWS being used to influence autonomous employees to actively undertake ambidextrous activities at the unit level.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Manita Kusi ◽  
Fuqiang Zhao ◽  
Dinesh Sukamani

PurposeThe study aims to scrutinize the concomitant associations between corporate social responsibility (CSR), perceived organizational support (POS), green transformational leadership (GTL) and organizational performance (OP). This paper aims to explore the role of intervening variable to measure the strength on the relationship between CSR and OP.Design/methodology/approachThis research administered a survey through self-administered questionnaire among the staff-level employees of construction companies of Nepal. Fully filled 305 responses from the participants were analyzed using a structural equation model. The study used self-structured questionnaire as research tool and face-to-face meetings as data collection technique.FindingsThe research indicates that POS showed competitive partial mediation relation between CSR and OP. Besides, a novel exploration of the moderation effect of GTL displays a supportive role in harmonizing the CSR with organizational support to achieve better OP. This study enriches empirical evidence to understand the linkage between CSR and POS in staff-level employees in the construction area. Moreover, the research shed a light on GTL 's moderating influence on the mediated model of CSR, POS and OP.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the results of the study add to the current knowledge base, several limitations highlight avenues for future research. Future studies can explore the relationship in other study areas with added evidence on a similar result with different analysis patterns and study sample. The research model studied in the context of Nepal creating evidence as a representation for the developing countries.Originality/valueThe intervening role of POS and GTL gives new insight for the research-based organization based social behavior and performance


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi-Ying Chang ◽  
Yi Ping Liu ◽  
Che-Yuan Chang

Abstract We examine the relationship between unit-level entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and unit-level corporate entrepreneurship (CE), which has been typically neglected in entrepreneurship research. Building on the conservation of resource theory (COR), we argue that the relationship between unit-level EO and unit-level CE will be stronger when unit-level social capital is higher. Further, we posit that unit-level social capital becomes more effective when firm-level leaders are viewed as less (and not more) transformational by unit members. Data were collected from 186 managers, 372 employees, and 62 senior managers from 93 units of 31 firms. We find that unit-level EO is positively related to unit-level CE and this relationship strengthens when unit-level social capital is high. This moderating effect of social capital is itself moderated by firm-level transformational leadership, and strengthens as firm-level transformational leadership behaviors decrease (supporting “dark side” views of transformational leadership). Implications of our findings for organizational entrepreneurship research and practice are discussed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taghrid S. Suifan ◽  
Ayman Bahjat Abdallah ◽  
Marwa Al Janini

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of transformational leadership on employees’ creativity in the Jordanian banking sector through the mediating effect of perceived organizational support. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on survey data collected from 369 employees working in Jordanian banks. Validity and reliability analyses were performed, and direct and indirect effects were tested using structural equation modeling. Findings The results indicate that transformational leadership positively affects some dimensions of employees’ creativity and perceived organizational support. However, perceived organizational support is found to not be significantly related to some dimensions of employees’ creativity. Additionally, the mediating effect of perceived organizational support on the relationship between transformational leadership and some dimensions of employees’ creativity is found to not be significant. Originality/value This paper is one of the first to examine the relationship between transformational leadership and employees’ creativity through perceived organizational support, especially in an Arab country and in the banking sector.


2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 554-571 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi-Ying Chang ◽  
Wei-Chung Chao ◽  
Che-Yuan Chang ◽  
Hui-Ru Chi

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the role of mediation and moderation mechanisms between firm-level effects of transformational leadership (TFL) on unit-level performance across levels.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used surveys to collect data from 800 senior managers at the firm level and 1,377 unit managers from 800 units of 100 firms from semiconductors, optoelectronics, computer electronics, and telecommunications industries. The industries were chosen because these firms focus on expanding their businesses and encourage extensive knowledge sharing among the firms and at all levels within the organizations.FindingsIn this study, the authors theorized that firm-level effects of TFL on unit-level performance across levels were positively related to unit-level performance. Unit-level knowledge sharing mediates the positive relationship between firm-level TFL and unit-level performance. A cross-level interaction effect of firm-level TFL and unit-level absorptive capacity showed that a positive unit-level absorptive capacity enhanced firm-level influence of TFL on unit-level knowledge sharing. Unit-level absorptive capacity moderates the positive relationship between unit-level knowledge sharing and unit-level performance.Originality/valueFirst, the authors attempt to integrate the leadership and knowledge management research by exploring the critical mediator of unit-level knowledge sharing in explaining the effects of firm-level TFL on employees’ performance at the unit level. This approach is important because it extends the research areas of the two fields, and also clarifies issues regarding how and why TFL at the top of the organization positively impacts the performance of employees at a lower level of the organizational hierarchy. Second, the effectiveness of firm-level TFL depends on the absorptive capacity of each unit. The importance of absorptive capacity and the consequences of leadership behaviors have been emphasized in studies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 240-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Mekpor ◽  
Kwasi Dartey-Baah

PurposeThe primary aim of this study was to determine whether or not leaders' emotional intelligence plays a mediating role in the relationship between leadership styles and voluntary work behaviours among employees of selected banks in Ghana. Specifically, the objective was to determine the mediating effect of leaders' emotional intelligence on the relationship between transactional and transformational leadership styles and organizational citizenship behaviours (OCB) and counterproductive workplace behaviours (CWB).Design/methodology/approachThe quantitative approach to research was adopted to collect data from 234 respondents. More so, both purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used for the selection of respondents for the study.FindingsThe findings of the study revealed that amongst the various leadership styles and OCB and CWB relationships, only the relationship between transformational leadership and OCB was mediated by leaders' emotional intelligence.Practical implicationsIt was however recommended that transformational leadership style be adopted in the quest to encourage employees to exhibit OCB and mitigate employees' involvement in CWB since such leaders are more prone to exhibiting high levels of emotional intelligence in the dealing with employees.Originality/valueFor the first time in the Ghanaian banking sector, this research explores the leaders' emotional intelligence as mediator on the nexus between leadership styles and voluntary work behaviours of employees of selected banks in Ghana.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yueyue Liu ◽  
Meng Xi ◽  
Feifei Li ◽  
Xiulin Geng

Purpose Corporate entrepreneurship is an important way for organizations to gain competitive advantages and achieve sustainable development. However, few studies pay attention to the influence of CEO strategic leadership on corporate entrepreneurship. Drawing on social identity theory and uncertainty-identity theory, this study aims to investigate whether CEO relationship-focused leadership impacts corporate entrepreneurship through middle managers’ (MMs’) organizational identification and whether the indirect effect is moderated by environmental uncertainty. Design/methodology/approach Using 192 Chinese samples with 192 firm-level and 716 department-level observations, this study uses multilevel structural equations modeling by Mplus 8.0 to test the theoretical model. Findings This study finds that CEO relationship-focused leadership positively predicts MMs’ organizational identification and corporate entrepreneurship, and MMs’ organizational identification mediates the relationship between CEO relationship-focused leadership and corporate entrepreneurship. In addition, environmental uncertainty moderates not only the relationship between CEO relationship-focused leadership and MMs’ organizational identification but also the indirect effect of CEO relationship-focused leadership on corporate entrepreneurship through MMs’ organizational identification. Research limitations/implications This study enriches the understanding of process and contextualization of CEO strategic leadership influencing on corporate entrepreneurship. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first to explore the influence of CEO relationship-focused leadership on corporate entrepreneurship.


2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Mushafiq ◽  
Syed Ahmad Sami ◽  
Muhammad Khalid Sohail ◽  
Muzammal Ilyas Sindhu

PurposeThe main purpose of this study is to evaluate the probability of default and examine the relationship between default risk and financial performance, with dynamic panel moderation of firm size.Design/methodology/approachThis study utilizes a total of 1,500 firm-year observations from 2013 to 2018 using dynamic panel data approach of generalized method of moments to test the relationship between default risk and financial performance with the moderation effect of the firm size.FindingsThis study establishes the findings that default risk significantly impacts the financial performance. The relationship between distance-to-default (DD) and financial performance is positive, which means the relationship of the independent and dependent variable is inverse. Moreover, this study finds that the firm size is a significant positive moderator between DD and financial performance.Practical implicationsThis study provides new and useful insight into the literature on the relationship between default risk and financial performance. The results of this study provide investors and businesses related to nonfinancial firms in the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) with significant default risk's impact on performance. This study finds, on average, the default probability in KSE ALL indexed companies is 6.12%.Originality/valueThe evidence of the default risk and financial performance on samples of nonfinancial firms has been minimal; mainly, it has been limited to the banking sector. Moreover, the existing studies have only catered the direct effect of only. This study fills that gap and evaluates this relationship in nonfinancial firms. This study also helps in the evaluation of Merton model's performance in the nonfinancial firms.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shazia Nauman ◽  
Ata Ul Musawir ◽  
Hina Munir ◽  
Imran Rasheed

PurposeThis study examines the mechanisms and conditions that influence how transformational leadership affects project success through the lens of social information processing theory.Design/methodology/approachA dual-stage moderated mediation model was proposed wherein the effect of transformational leadership on project success is mediated by team building, and empowering climate moderates the direct and indirect effects at both the first and second stages. The model was tested based on 370 survey responses of project management practitioners from Pakistan's IT industry. The measurement model was analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Moderated mediation analyses were conducted using Hayes' PROCESS macro.FindingsThe findings suggest that team-building partially mediates the effect of transformational leadership on project success. Furthermore, the conditional indirect effect of transformational leadership on project success via team-building is strengthened at both the first and second stages at higher levels of empowerment climate.Practical implicationsIt is recommended that project managers and project-intensive organizations should strive to cultivate an empowerment climate to fully realize the beneficial effects of transformational leadership behaviors in enhancing positive team outcomes and, consequently, overall project performance.Originality/valueThis study broadly contributes to the literature on the influence of project managers' leadership styles on project outcomes. Specifically, we elucidate the role of empowerment climate as an important boundary condition that enhances the beneficial effects of transformational leadership. Furthermore, we extend the application of social information processing theory to the context of projects.


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