Are Inclusive Leaders Adept at Driving Performance?
“How Do Leaders Influence Innovation and Creativity in Employees? The Mediating Role of Intrinsic Motivation”
Saeed Siyal, Chunlin Xin, Waheed Ali Umrani, Seerat Fatima, and Debajyoti Pal (2021)
What are the researchers interested in?
Siyal and colleagues (2021) investigates a pressing concern for organizations in this era: the ability to embrace change and innovate, especially through continual disruptions in their respective industries. The type of behaviour which is conducive to adapting to these circumstances is Innovative Work Behaviours (IWB). The authors argue that an Inclusive Leader has the ability to stimulate and drive innovative thinking, in turn increasing IWB among their subordinates. Before jumping into the research we will look at the relationship between IWB and inclusive leaders, a variable that might influence this relationship, and the predictions the authors made.
Innovative Work Behaviours
De Jong and Den Hartog (2007) defines IWB as behaviours consistent with identifying new ideas and ways to execute tasks; more importantly, going through with those ideas with the end goal of enriching the performance of employees. IWB consists of four distinct activities:
Problem recognition
Generating new ideas
Promoting new ideas
Realization of ideas (actually implementing it)
Inclusive Leadership
Research has shown that an inclusive leader usually has three common characteristics: openness, accessibility and availability. These qualities are proficient in building effective manager-employee relationship and encourages employees to openly share their ideas.
Psychological safety (cf. Amy Edmondson) is also a product of inclusive leadership; as in, the employee’s perception regarding the outcomes of taking risks in the workplace – whether they feel comfortable sharing ideas etc. Leaders will communicate the importance of sharing ideas, assuring them of adverse consequences.
The Mediating Role of Intrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic motivation is the fascination toward a task at one’s own interest, rather than from external tangible factors (e.g. money). Past research has shown that this motivation can increase and offset creative thinking, reinforcing innovation in individuals (Amabile, 1988). With this in mind, intrinsic motivation can be a mediator in the relationship between inclusive leadership and IWB or employee creativity (EC). The authors also note that this concept can be explained through social exchange theory; arguing that support from inclusive leaders will lead employees to be more motivated to get involved in innovative tasks because of a feeling of reciprocity – to ‘pay back’. Inclusive leaders may affect IWB through the enhancement of employee’s intrinsic motivation.
Predictions
Inclusive leadership is positively related to IWB
Inclusive leadership is positively related to employee creativity
Intrinsic motivation mediates relationship between Inclusive leadership and IWB
Intrinsic motivation mediates relationship between Inclusive leadership and EC
What method did they use?
320 R&D employees working in multiple organizations in Beijing, China were recruited as a sample for this research. In Addition, the HR departments were contacted to help aid in the data collection process. The data collection process was carried out in two phases.
Employees were asked to complete a questionnaire on Inclusive Leadership, intrinsic motivation according to their own perception
Supervisors were asked to answer questions pertaining IWB and EC in their employees
What did they end up finding?
Findings confirmed that the style of leadership is an important contributor to motivation and workforce innovation; inclusive leadership proved to be fundamental in knowledge intensive industries (technology, finance etc.). Study findings revealed that employees with high intrinsic motivation were more likely to enjoy creative tasks and had higher creative output. When these employees had inclusive leaders, their creative performance became maximum. Building strong relationships between leaders and employees allows the feeling of reciprocation from the employee to want to perform well.
Below we reference of a Harvard Business Review article talking about the cardinal traits of an inclusive leader. Organizations are able to identify or cultivate leaders based on these traits:
Why does this matter for organizations?
Leaders play a crucial role in keeping employees and their subordinates engaged in their jobs (Siyal et al., 2021). An environment that is advantageous in championing innovation is a feature of the workplace that leaders can and must help create. Previous research in organizational behaviour has focused a lot on the environment (e.g. agile working, autonomous decision-making etc.), research into leadership and creativity is slowly emerging and becoming a imperative factor that organizations cannot overlook. Understanding how to identify an inclusive leader and how to cultivate one should be a high-priority objective for organizations looking to increase their innovative capacities and produce novel ideas.
References
Bourke, J., & Espedido, A. (2019). Why inclusive leaders are good for organizations, and how to become one. Harvard Business Review Digital Articles, 1(1), 2-5.
De Jong, J. P., & Den Hartog, D. N. (2007). How leaders influence employees’ innovative behaviour. European Journal of Innovation Management, 10(1), 41–64.
Siyal, S., Xin, C., Umrani, W. A., Fatima, S., & Pal, D. (2021). How Do Leaders Influence Innovation and Creativity in Employees? The Mediating Role of Intrinsic Motivation. Administration & Society, 0095399721997427.