Determinants of innovative behavior of employees: evidence from Spanish firms
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-07-2013-0081 |
| Date | 30 September 2014 |
| Pages | 606-621 |
| Published date | 30 September 2014 |
| Author | M. Teresa Ortega-Egea,Antonia Ruiz Moreno,M. Carmen Haro Domínguez |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations |
Determinants of innovative
behavior of employees: evidence
from Spanish firms
M. Teresa Ortega-Egea, Antonia Ruiz Moreno and
M. Carmen Haro Domı
´nguez
Departamento de Organizaci
on de Empresas, Universidad de Granada,
Granada, Spain
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the presence of communication and
knowledge flows influences the creation of a wo rk context that supports innovation, and how this
relationship is moderated by labor exter nalization.
Design/methodology/approach – To study these relationships, the authors use a sample of 249
workers from five organizations. The different hypotheses proposed are contrasted using hierarchical
regression analysis.
Findings – The results obtained show the authors that, when communication flows exist, workers’
orientation to innovation is greater; likewise, knowledge transfer influences workers’ innovative
attitude positively. However, the results are different when externalization of workers acts as a
moderating variable.
Practical implications – The firm’s management should make decisions and foster the production
of information flows between employees, as the results obtained indicate that communication and
knowledge transfer encourage employee attitudes and behavior favorable to innovation.
Originality/value – The main contribution of this study is to provide new empirical evidence on the
influence of communication and knowledge flows on workers’ orientation to innovation. The authors
also analyze how these relationships are affected by the presence of externalization. The evidence
obtained in this study permits to deduce what actions foster or inhibit organizations in creating awork
context that supports innovation and thus encourages the generation of innovation.
Keywords Knowledge management, Employee attitudes, Temporary workers, Employee relations
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The circumstances that firms are currently facin g – greater competitiveness
accompanied by a g reater quantity and frequency of tec hnological, economic, and
political changes – require them to have mechanisms that permit them to face these
changes effectively. One way of facing the uncer tainty generated is to p ermit and foster
communication in the firm’s internal and external relationships, suc h that information
and knowledge flow among workers, customers, suppliers, and competitors (Lievens
and Moenaert, 2000). Travica (2005) demonstrates that information systems in
organizations exist to achieve goals, to plan and control their processes and operations,
to help deal with uncertainty, and to help in adapting to change or even initiating
change. Laihonen (2006) considers knowledge flows as processes of creating, sharing,
and distributing knowledge, whereas communication processes and infor mation
flows give rise to knowledge flows. We can thus deduce that both information and
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0142-5455.htm
Received 11 July 2013
Revised 11 November 2013
22 December 2013
Accepted 5 March 2014
Employee Relations
Vol. 36 No. 6, 2014
pp. 606-621
rEmeraldGroup PublishingLimited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-07-2013-0081
This work has been developed with funding and collaboration of the Ministry of Science and
Innovation and the European Union. R&D Project ECO2010-15885.
606
ER
36,6
knowledge flows permit individuals to constr uct new knowledge and generate
innovations in the organization.
Workers play a key role in producing knowledge flows. They become facilitating
elements. Lindsay et al. (2003) argue that individuals play a cr ucial role in the processes
of knowledge transfer and their relationships.
The firm’s capability for innovation depends on internal and external factors.
Among the internal factors inherent in the organization, the literature considers both
external communication between the organization and its environment and interna l
communication between workers and work units to be fundamental to innovation
capability (Damanpour, 1991; Kivima
¨ki et al., 2000). It is logical to think that effective
internal communication, in which workers maintain contact and information flows
among themselves, gives rise to a climate more favorable to the generation of new ideas
and innovation.
Many prior studies have analyzed the influence of contextual and structural
variables on organizational innovation. Russell (1990) and Craig (1995) indicate
the need not only for organizational systems, structures, and agreements for the
implementation of organizational innovation but also certain positive attitudes and
behavior toward innovation in the organization. Thus, a critical element in the
initiation phase is “openness to innovation,” or the willingness of the organization’s
members to consider (or resist) innovation (Hurley et al., 2005).
To create and sustain a culture of support for innovation, it is necessary to
foster innovation. It is therefore important to promote a culture of suppor t for
innovation in which management’s values become employees’ practices (Hofstede,
1994). Further, since organizations must develop specific capabilities that permit them
to regenerate their essential competencies and achieve comp etitive advantage, and
since intangibles play a fundamental role in this process, all actions oriented to
developing capabilities related to knowledge – e.g. the existence of communication
between employees and knowledge transfer – provide great strategic capabilities
for organizations.
Our study focusses on the consequences that the presence of communication an d
knowledge flows have for the organization, specifically, how this presence influences
the innovative attitude of workers. We contribute to this line of research by analyzing
how the existence of communication and knowledg e transfer conditions workers’
orientation to innovation.
We are also interested in understanding how the presence of externalized
workers affects the relationship studied. Recent decades have been characterized by
increased use of the external labor force for various reasons, whether se eking
cost reduction and greater flexibility (Davis-Blake and Uzzi, 1993; Storey et al., 2002 )
or providing the firm with access to highly specialized abilities that are needed
for short periods of time only (Davis-Blake and Uzzi, 1993; Houseman, 1997; Kalleberg,
2000).
The evidence obtained in this study should permit us to deduce what actions foster
or inhibit organizations in creating a work context that supports innovation and thus
encourages the generation of innovation.
The paper is organized as follows. First, we analyze how information and
knowledge flows condition workers’ innovative attitude. Second, we analyze how these
relationships can be moderated by the contractual nature of workers, specifically,
whether the presence of externalization or the use of temp orary workers moderates
the relationships studied.
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Innovative
behavior of
employees
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