Aligning Leader Behaviors With Innovation Requirements Improves Performance: An Experimental Study

Gerlach, Friederike; Heinigk, Katharina; Rosing, Kathrin; Zacher, Hannes

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01332

Cited by 9 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 88 publications

(265 reference statements)

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“…A recent study that offers some support of our ideas is an experimental study by Gerlach, Heinigk et al (2020), who found that participants' task performance was positively predicted by opening behaviours when creativity was required, and positively predicted by closing behaviours when implementation was required. However, performance in this study was measured on different tasks and not in an organizational setting.…”

Section: Ambidextrous Leadership Idea Generation and The Later Stages Of Innovationmentioning

confidence: 52%

Ambidextrous leadership: opening and closing leader behaviours to facilitate idea generation, idea promotion and idea realization

Mascareño

Rietzschel

Wisse

2021

European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology

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The generation of ideas and the subsequent promotion and implementation of these ideas are important for organizational performance. Unfortunately, however, ideas do not always turn into innovations. Based on the ambidexterity theory of leadership for innovation, we argue that both employee idea generation and the relationship between idea generation on the one hand and idea promotion and idea realization on the other, could benefit from leaders who display both opening (fostering exploration) and closing behaviours (fostering exploitation). Results based on dyadic data (N = 201 dyads) partly supported our hypotheses, showing that opening leader behaviours were positively related to idea generation and subsequently to idea promotion and idea realization, and that closing leader behaviours strengthened the relationship between idea generation and idea realization (but not the relationship between idea generation and idea promotion). We discuss how our research contributes to knowledge about ambidextrous leadership and the relationship between idea generation and innovation.

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Section: Ambidextrous Leadership Idea Generation and The Later Stages Of Innovationmentioning

confidence: 52%

Ambidextrous leadership: opening and closing leader behaviours to facilitate idea generation, idea promotion and idea realization

Mascareño

Rietzschel

Wisse

2021

European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology

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“…Most previous research on ambidextrous leadership has used correlational study designs (e.g., Gerlach, Hundeling et al, 2020; Zacher et al, 2016), which may have resulted in inflated relationships due to common method variance. However, recent experimental evidence suggests that opening and closing leader behaviors influence follower behavior and performance, at least under some circumstances (Gerlach, Heinigk et al, 2020; Klonek et al, 2020). Specifically, an experimental study by Gerlach, Henigk et al (2020) examined the separate effects of opening and closing leader behaviors on innovation performance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, recent experimental evidence suggests that opening and closing leader behaviors influence follower behavior and performance, at least under some circumstances (Gerlach, Heinigk et al, 2020; Klonek et al, 2020). Specifically, an experimental study by Gerlach, Henigk et al (2020) examined the separate effects of opening and closing leader behaviors on innovation performance. This study provides evidence that opening and closing leader behaviors impact innovative performance when creativity and implementation task requirements are aligned with leader behaviors.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, the existing literature on leadership for innovation has relied mostly on correlational designs (Hughes et al, 2018). Recent exceptions are the experimental studies by Klonek et al (2020) and Gerlach, Heinigk et al (2020) which, however, do not include aspects of flexibility. Thus, conclusions in terms of causal influences of flexible adaptation of leader behavior cannot be drawn, for instance, due to possible reverse causality issues (Antonakis, 2017; Antonakis et al, 2010).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Flexible Adaptation of Leader Behavior

Gerlach

Rosing

Zacher

2021

Journal of Personnel Psychology

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Abstract. Based on the model of ambidextrous leadership, we investigated the impact of flexible adaptation of leader behavior, that is, opening and closing leader behaviors, on innovative performance in a laboratory experiment. Leader behaviors were manipulated with confederates attending to one participant showing either no leadership, a sequential, or a flexible application of opening and closing leader behaviors. We hypothesized that flexible adaptation leads to better innovation performance. N = 93 participants took part and received one leadership manipulation. We did not find significant effects. These findings suggest that the effects of ambidextrous leadership might not be as strong as previously expected. Nonetheless, this study provides a manipulation of flexible leadership in a controlled setting, which is important to provide causal evidence.

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“…In that regard, it is important to note that process management differs from the construct of ambidextrous leadership that has a broader understanding of opening, closing, and alternating leader behaviors as being less instructional and instead also including inspiring and transformational components (e.g. Gerlach et al, 2020; Klonek et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inspire but don't interfere: Managerial influence as a double‐edged sword for innovation

2021

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Managers play a pivotal role in the innovation process; yet, the mechanisms through which managers enhance or undermine innovation are not well understood. Drawing upon self‐concordance theory, we argue that managers can augment employees' self‐concordance—defined as the congruence of goals and actions with inner values and preferences—through transformational behavior and thereby contribute to innovation. However, transformational behavior is closely coupled to another form of influence, namely, process management, the attempt to directly manage innovation‐related activities. This form of managerial influence reduces employees' self‐concordance and thereby undermines innovation. We test our conceptual model in a sample of 188 innovation projects using a contextualized method that asked employees to assess their self‐concordance and their managers' behavior during each project. Managers evaluated for each project the innovativeness of the outcome. Multilevel path‐analysis provided support for our hypotheses. We discuss future research implications to disentangle innovation‐facilitating and innovation‐undermining facets of managerial influence.

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Aligning Leader Behaviors With Innovation Requirements Improves Performance: An Experimental Study

Cited by 9 publications

References 88 publications

Ambidextrous leadership: opening and closing leader behaviours to facilitate idea generation, idea promotion and idea realization

Ambidextrous leadership: opening and closing leader behaviours to facilitate idea generation, idea promotion and idea realization

Flexible Adaptation of Leader Behavior

Inspire but don't interfere: Managerial influence as a double‐edged sword for innovation

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