Combined influence of exchange quality and organizational identity on the relationship between authoritarian leadership and employee innovation: evidence from China

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the combined influence of exchange quality (i.e. leader-member exchange or LMX, and coworker exchange or CWX) and organizational identity on the relationship between authoritarian leadership and employee innovation based on social cognition theory and social exchange theory.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used mediation analysis, moderation analysis and bootstrapping method to test the proposed model with data from 286 supervisor-subordinate dyads in China, covering manufacturing and Internet companies. This study also used the time-lag design, and the questionnaires were collected by means of multi-source and multiphase.FindingsThe results indicate that authoritarian leadership can positively influence employee innovation behavior, and organizational identity mediates this relationship. Both LMX and CWX can significantly moderate the relationship between authoritarian leadership and organizational identity, while the moderating effect is the opposite. To be specific, CWX has appositive effect, while LMX has a negative effect. Furthermore, the indirect effect of authoritarian leadership on employee innovation behavior via organizational identity is also moderated by LMX.Originality/valueAt present, scholars have not yet reached a consensus on the relationship between authoritarian leadership and employee innovation behavior. Based on social cognition theory and social exchange theory, this study incorporates organizational identity and exchange quality into the research model to explore this lack of consensus. By verifying the research model, this study offers original views on when and how authoritarian leadership and exchange quality affect employee innovation behavior, which enriches the current research on employee innovation and the effectiveness of authoritarian leadership in different cultural contexts.

How and when seeking feedback from coworkers pays off? The mixed role of coworker relationship

“…Extant research has contended that social exchange was an effective way for employees to replenish resources and then help conquer the adverse situation. For example, previous studies have yielded the mitigating effect of coworker relationship on negative workplace experiences (e.g., workplace loneliness and workplace anxiety) (McCarthy et al, 2016 ; Jung et al, 2021 ), and the expanding effect of social exchange on positive workplace experiences (e.g., positive leadership) (Zhang et al, 2021 ). Beyond the positive effects, extant studies have focused on the potential negative effect of high-quality social exchange.…”

“…In the context of high-quality coworker relationships, employees tend to communicate frequently and exchange valuable resources (e.g., tacit knowledge, and emotional support) with coworkers (Zhang et al, 2021 ). The resources (i.e., instrumental and affective values) obtained from coworkers' social exchange will induce increased task performance and workplace well-being.…”

Whether and how managers' negotiable fate belief and knowledge search affect enterprise innovation

“…The research in this article only examines the internal network collaboration capability as one of the four dimensions of network capability. In order to show the moderating effect of H6b, we draw on the procedure used by Zhang et al (2021b) to describe the influence of managers' NFB on cross-border knowledge search under different levels of network capability (see Figure 2).…”

Exploring the Nexus Between Knowledge-Oriented Leadership and Employees’ Innovative Behaviour in SMEs: The Moderating Role of Organisational Learning Culture

“…In the context of the workplace, a person's deliberate action to introduce or use new concepts and ideas, products, processes, and procedures is defined as 'individual innovative behaviour' (West and Farr, 1989). There is a growing body of research on innovative behaviour that highlights how crucial it is to an organisation's performance (Mutonyi et al, 2020;Ye et al, 2022;Zhang et al, 2021). However, one of the most difficult tasks that managers have, particularly those in human resources, is encouraging and developing innovative behaviour among their employees (Eid and Agag, 2020).…”

“…However, previous studies have found that the most important predictor of innovative behaviour is leadership (Jung et al, 2008). However, the majority of the studies that have been carried out have been associated with different leadership styles (e.g., transformational leadership, ethical leadership, humble leadership, and authoritarian leadership) in relation to employees' innovative behaviour (Choi et al, 2016;Ye et al, 2022;Zhou and Wu, 2018;Zhang et al, 2021). Ergo, the direct effects of knowledge-oriented leadership on employees' innovative behaviour still requires more attention (Gurlek and Cemberci, 2020;Rehman and Iqbal, 2020).…”