Linking ethical leadership to followers' innovative work behavior in Pakistan: the vital roles of psychological safety and proactive personality

Abstract

PurposeThis study examines the link between ethical leadership and innovative work behavior. Also, drawing on the substitute for leadership theory, this study investigates the role of a follower's proactive personality in the relationship between ethical leadership and innovative work behavior (IWB). Similarly, this study further explores the role of psychological safety in this relationship.Design/methodology/approachThe data for this study were collected from software development companies based in Islamabad, Pakistan. A total of 240 employees and their immediate supervisors were asked to participate in this study. Processes Macro and Amos were used to assess study hypotheses.FindingsUsing data from software companies in Pakistan, this study found that ethical leadership can be effective to enhance IWB in followers whose proactive personality is low, while this effect is limited in high proactive individuals. Furthermore, psychological safety mediates the main effect of ethical leadership on IWB as well as the interactive effect between ethical leadership and follower's proactive personality on IWB.Originality/valueThis study is among the first to investigate the moderating role of employees' proactive personality in the relationship between ethical leadership and followers' IWB. Secondly, draws on the substitute for leadership perspective, this study explains that how the role of ethical leadership can be less effective for high proactive individuals or how individual characteristics can substitute leadership behavior. Thirdly, this study deepens our understanding of the mechanisms linking ethical leadership to IWB by exploring the role of psychological safety as a mediator. Finally, our research is based on data collected from Pakistan might also add some new insights to the existing west-dominated literature.

Proactive Personality and Innovative Work Behavior: Through the Juxtapose of Schumpeter's Theory of Innovation and Broaden-And-Build Theory

“…Among multiple business process resources, employees' innovative work behavior (IWB) has emerged as a substantive factor (Kumar et al, 2022 ). Although, in the current study, antiquities have established the positively significant relationship of IWB with leadership (Kim and Koo, 2017 ), work climate (Baradarani and Kilic, 2018 ), OI (Luhgiatno and Dwiatmadja, 2020 ), PIS (Zhang et al, 2021 ), and proactive personality (PP) (Ahmad et al, 2021b ; Zhang et al, 2021 ). PP is essential for individual and organizational success.…”

“…This study selected 25 IT companies based in (Shanghai, Nanjing, and Shandong), China. Finally, the electronic questionnaire in the English language was floated to 1,000 employees of 25 IT companies (Moradi et al, 2021 ); the employees' access was obtained from the human resources managers of the selected companies (Ahmad et al, 2021b ). We received 538 responses from 1,000 respondents with a response rate of (53.8%).…”

“…In the previous research studies, IWB has been investigated with many intervening variables: trust in leadership (Hoang et al, 2022 ) and psychological safety (Ahmad et al, 2021b ). Although we found that the affective states and creative self-efficacy (Li et al, 2017a ), error management climate and self-efficacy (Pan et al, 2021 ) have been investigated as the mediators between the relationship between PP and IWB.…”

The Relationship Between Leadership Safety Commitment and Resilience Safety Participation Behavior

“…Empirical research shows that psychological safety can predict multiple work outcomes, such as employee voice behavior, 28 employee innovation behavior, 29 and employee silence behavior. 30 In addition, the relationship between psychological safety and performance is also fully supported.…”

The Impact of Authentic Leadership on Innovative Work Behavior: Mediating Roles of Proactive Personality and Employee Engagement

“…Existing research stated that organizations need leaders who are accomplished at motivating employees so that the employees can demonstrate positive behaviors to maintain stability and benefit the organization, especially when those behaviors are not officially stated as part of the job description (Yamak and Eyupoglu, 2021). In a competitive global market, organizations certainly face difficulties as a challenge (Ahmad et al, 2021). Authentic leadership is considered one of the most influential determinants regarding proactive personality and innovative work behavior (Hu Y. et al, 2018).…”