Understanding employee innovative behavior: Integrating the social network and leader–member exchange perspectives

F.X Wang, Yulin Fang, I Qureshi, Onne Janssen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

167 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

By integrating social network theory and leader–member exchange (LMX) theory, we explore the effects of three types of social relationships on employee innovative behavior: weak ties outside the group, LMX, and strong ties within the group. The results from a sample in a high‐tech firm showed that LMX fully mediated the positive relationship between out‐group weak ties and innovative behavior. Furthermore, within‐group strong ties negatively moderated the second stage of this indirect relationship, such that LMX was positively and significantly related to innovative behavior only when the number of within‐group strong ties was low. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)403-420
JournalJournal of Organizational Behavior
Volume36
Issue number3
Early online date25 Jan 2015
DOIs
Publication statusPublished (in print/issue) - 30 Apr 2015

Keywords

  • Innovative behavior
  • Social network
  • Leader-member exchange

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