Proactive Goal Generation and Innovative Work Behavior: The Moderating Role of Affective Commitment,Production Ownership and Leader Support for Innovation

Building on goal‐regulation theory, we develop and test the hypothesis that proactive goal generation fosters individual innovative work behavior. Consistent with a resource‐based perspective, we further examine two‐three‐way interactions to assess whether the link between proactive goal generation and innovative behavior is jointly moderated by organizational affective commitment and production ownership, or, alternatively, leader support for innovation. In a sample of 442 municipal employees from the administrative division of an Italian city hall, proactive goal generation was positively associated with innovative work behavior. Additionally, as expected, this relationship was stronger when employees were highly affectively committed to their organization and when they exhibited a high level of production ownership or received extensive support for innovation from their supervisors. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

Career adaptability and proactive work behaviour: A relational model

Research on career adaptability has found that it helps people adapt at work. However, in modern uncertain and dynamic work environment, people need to perform proactive work behaviour to ensure individual effectiveness. Thus, to understand how career adaptability advances career development, it is necessary to examine its influences on proactive work behaviour. Adopting a relational perceptive, the current paper proposed leader-member exchange and perceived coworker support as the mediators and future work self salience as a moderator. Data were collected with a three-wave design in China. Findings largely supported the propositions, albeit showing partial mediation effects. This study extends existing understandings of the role of career adaptability at work, provides a new perspective about why it influences work-related outcomes and enriches the knowledge about the antecedents of proactive work behaviour.     

Job demands,job resources and innovative work behaviour: a European Union study

This study aims to investigate the relationship between several job design variables and innovative work behaviour (IWB). Guided by the Job Demands Resources model, the aim was to evaluate the relationship between work demands (time constraints), resources (autonomy and social support), and other work factors (task monotony, complexity, and dealing with unforeseen circumstances) with idea generation and idea implementation behaviours in a sample of 12,924 participants from the 27 European Union member states in 2010. We also wished to investigate if individual IWB, at the country level, is associated with country innovative performance (an aggregate of process/product and marketing/organizational innovation). We employed a multilevel generalized structural equation model to test our hypotheses. In our final model autonomy, manager encouragement and dealing with unforeseen problems showed the highest positive relationship with idea generation and idea implementation. Conversely, monotonous tasks and working at high speed were negatively related to IWB. Furthermore, we have found strong indications that country-level IWB positively relates to the odds of a country scoring higher on the aforementioned innovation indicators. Between-country unexplained variance in IWB was reduced from 17.1% in our initial model, to 1.9% in our final iteration. Limitations, implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Goal Orientation and Work Role Performance: Predicting Adaptive and Proactive Work Role Performance Through Self-Leadership Strategies

This article explores the relationship between goal orientation, self-leadership dimensions, and adaptive and proactive work role performances. The authors hypothesize that learning orientation, in contrast to performance orientation, positively predicts proactive and adaptive work role performances and that this relationship is mediated by self-leadership behavior-focused strategies. It is posited that self-leadership natural reward strategies and thought pattern strategies are expected to moderate this relationship. Workers (N = 108) from a software company participated in this study. As expected, learning orientation did predict adaptive and proactive work role performance. Moreover, in the relationship between learning orientation and proactive work role performance through self-leadership behavior-focused strategies, a moderated mediation effect was found for self-leadership natural reward and thought pattern strategies. In the end, the authors discuss the results and implications are discussed and future research directions are proposed.     

The effect of state core self-evaluations on task performance,organizational citizenship behaviour,and counterproductive work behaviour

Although the personality–performance relationship has been studied extensively, most studies focused on the relationship between between-person differences in the Big Five personality dimensions and between-person differences in job performance. The current paper extends this research in two ways. First, we build on core self-evaluations (CSEs): an alternative, broad personality dimension that has proven to be a good predictor of job performance. Second, we tested concurrent and lagged within-person relationships between CSEs and task performance, organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB), and counterproductive work behaviour (CWB). To this end, we conducted two experience sampling studies; the first one assessing the relationship between state CSEs and levels of momentary task performance and OCB, and a second study in which employees reported on their level of state CSEs and momentary CWB. Results showed that there is substantial within-person variability in CSEs and that these within-person fluctuations relate to within-person variation in task performance, OCB, and CWB towards the organization, and CWB towards the individual. Moreover, CSEs prospectively predicted within-person differences in task performance and CWB towards the organization, whereas the reversed effect did not hold. These findings tentatively suggest that state CSEs predict performance, rather than the other way around.     

Keep the fire burning: Reciprocal gains of basic need satisfaction,intrinsic motivation and innovative work behaviour

Drawing on insights from self-determination theory, we explored the dynamic relationship between intrinsic motivation and innovative work behaviour (IWB) over time. Specifically, we investigated how basic need satisfaction influences IWB through its effect on intrinsic motivation and how IWB in turn affects basic need satisfaction as measured the next day (i.e., a reciprocal relationship). The current study used a longitudinal design comprising a 6-day period and relied on multi-source data from 76 students in industrial product design and electronic engineering who participated in an innovation boot camp. In general, results provided support for the mediating role of intrinsic motivation in the relationship between basic need satisfaction and IWB, as well as the reciprocal relationship between basic need satisfaction and IWB.     

The ontogeny of cumulative culture: Individual toddlers vary in faithful imitation and goal emulation

The success of human culture depends on early emerging mechanisms of social learning, which include the ability to acquire opaque cultural knowledge through faithful imitation, as well as the ability to advance culture through flexible discovery of new means to goal attainment. This study explores whether this mixture of faithful imitation and goal emulation is based in part on individual differences which emerge early in ontogeny. Experimental measurements and parental reports were collected for a group of 2‐year‐old children (N = 48, age = 23–32 months) on their imitative behavior as well as other aspects of cognitive and social development. Results revealed individual differences in children's imitative behavior across trials and tasks which were best characterized by a model that included two behavioral routines; one corresponding to faithful imitation, and one to goal emulation. Moreover, individual differences in faithful imitation and goal emulation were correlated with individual differences in theory of mind, prosocial behavior, and temperament. These findings were discussed in terms of their implications for understanding the mechanisms of social learning, ontogeny of cumulative culture, and the benefit of analyzing individual differences for developmental experiments.     

Make it to work (and back home) safely: the effect of psychological work stressors on employee behaviour while commuting by car

Despite empirical data suggesting that commuting accidents are a major problem worldwide, research on employee behaviour while commuting by car is scant. In particular, our understanding of the antecedents of unsafe commuting behaviour is limited mainly to demographic variables and work-related physical stressors. Our study addressed this lacuna by investigating the association between work-related psychological stressors and unsafe commuting behaviour. In addition, we developed and validated a scale for measuring commuting norms and considered the permissiveness of these norms as a mediator in the stressor-commuting behaviour association. The results, based on data collected from 216 employees in a large manufacturing plant at 2 points in time, indicated that abusive supervision and work–family conflict were both positively related to unsafe commuting behaviour, and that the permissiveness of commuting norms partially mediated these relationships. The potential role of work organizations in educating employees about commuting behaviour and driving safety is discussed.     

Harnessing members' positive mood for team-directed learning behaviour and team innovation: The moderating role of perceived team feedback

This study examines the role of individual team members' positive mood and perceived team feedback for their team-directed learning behaviour. Results obtained in a sample of 186 members from 27 work teams showed that positive mood was positively associated with team-directed learning behaviour if individual members perceived that the feedback they received was based on the performance of the team as a whole, but not if they perceived such team feedback to be lacking. Moreover, teams were found to be more innovative to the extent that their members, on average, engaged in team-directed learning behaviour to a greater extent. These results offer new insights into the micro-foundations of team learning. Our findings explicate why the contributions of individual members to their team's learning may differ and suggest that, if managed effectively, members' positive mood may be an important resource in facilitating team learning.     

Daily within-person effects of job autonomy and work engagement on innovative behaviour: The cross-level moderating role of creative self-efficacy

Adopting a dynamic within-person perspective on employee innovation, the present study investigates the role of situational job autonomy and momentary work engagement as day-level correlates of innovative behaviour. Anticipating individual differences in the strength of these intraindividual associations, we propose dispositional creative self-efficacy (CSE) to serve as a cross-level moderating influence amplifying the day-specific predictive power of autonomy and work engagement for innovative behaviour. Hierarchical linear modelling analyses of the nested data from 123 employees surveyed over 5 consecutive work days suggest that both autonomy and work engagement positively predict self-reported innovative behaviour on a daily basis. Whereas the engagement–innovation link emerges as homogenous across persons, results indicate that the daily within-person effect of autonomy on innovative behaviour varies significantly as a function of CSE such that it is greater for individuals who hold higher rather than lower CSE beliefs. Implications for future research, limitations, and practical implications are discussed.     

High involvement HR systems and innovative work behaviour: the mediating role of psychological empowerment,and the moderating roles of manager and co-worker support

Employees’ innovative work behaviour can help firms’ competitiveness. Existing research focuses on several factors, including HR policies, psychological empowerment as well as manager and co-worker support, to explain innovative work behaviour. However, much of this literature analyses just one of these, neglecting how they interact and limiting our understanding of the causes of innovative work behaviour. Synthesizing this work, we develop a novel and holistic framework that examines 1) how high-involvement HR systems are linked via the mediating role of psychological empowerment to innovative work behaviour and 2) how both manager and co-worker support moderate this relationship. Analysing software companies in Pakistan, we use hierarchical linear modelling to assess this framework. We draw on a unique dataset that captures HR policies at the organizational level as well as management and co-worker support, and supervisors’ assessments of individuals’ innovative work behaviour at the individual level. We analyse specific groups of HR practices. Psychological empowerment mediates the relationship between high-involvement HR systems and employees’ innovative work behaviour. Manager and co-worker support moderate the relationship between psychological empowerment and innovative work behaviour. Motivation-enhancing HR practices have a direct effect on innovative work behaviour, whereas ability- and opportunity-enhancing ones are mediated by psychological empowerment.