The role of job crafting and knowledge sharing on the effect of transformational leadership on innovative work behavior
| Date | 02 August 2019 |
| Published date | 02 August 2019 |
| Pages | 1186-1208 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-04-2018-0133 |
| Author | Bilal Afsar,Mariam Masood,Waheed Ali Umrani |
| Subject Matter | Hr & organizational behaviour,Global hrm |
The role of job crafting and
knowledge sharing on the effect
of transformational leadership on
innovative work behavior
Bilal Afsar and Mariam Masood
Department of Management Sciences,
Hazara University, Mansehra, Pakistan, and
Waheed Ali Umrani
Department of Business Administration,
Sukkur Institute of Business Administration, Sukkur, Pakistan
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of transformational leadership on an employee’s
innovative work behavior through job crafting. In addition, the study explores the moderating effect
of knowledge sharing behavior in the relationship between transformational leadership and innovative
work behavior.
Design/methodology/approach –A quantitative and cross-sectional approach was used to collect data.
Data were collected from 325 subordinates and 126 supervisors working in the hotel industry. Subordinates
were asked to rate transformational leadership style of their respective supervisors and their own job crafting
and knowledge sharing behaviors. Supervisors were asked to rate innovative work behavior of their
respective subordinates.
Findings –The results showed that job crafting behaviors (increasing structural job resources, increasing
social resources and increasing job challenges) mediated the effect of transformational leadership on an
employee’s innovative work behavior. Moreover, knowledge sharing moderated the relationship between
transformational leadership and innovative work behavior.
Practical implications –Organizations may reap the benefits of an innovative workforce by selecting,
nurturing and developing transformational leaders who facilitate employees to proactively craft a challenging
and resourceful work environment.
Originality/value –This is the first study to test the mediating effect of job crafting behaviors on the
relationship between transformational leadership and innovative work behavior.
Keywords Quantitative, Innovative work behaviour, Transformational leadership, Knowledge sharing,
Human resource development, Leader behaviour, Job crafting
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Due to the changing economic environment, globalization and growing competing demands,
innovative work behavior has become increasingly important (Woods et al., 2017) and an
essential prerequisite for organizational survival (Hon and Lui, 2016; Kim and Koo, 2017; Li
and Hsu, 2016). This is even more prominent in customer service oriented organizations
such as those in the hospitality industry (including hotels), wherein constantly changing
customer expectations require employees with a tendency toward innovative work
behaviors. These organizations are now motivating their employees to generate and
implement new ideas that may improve overall service quality and performance (Edghiem
and Mouzughi, 2017; Li and Hsu, 2016). Proper leadership has the potential to promote
innovative work behavior by motivating employees and fostering a conducive atmosphere
for the development of their creative and innovative skills which eventually lead to
enhanced innovation capabilities and superior competitive advantages for the organization
(Patiar and Wang, 2016; Schuckert et al., 2018).
Personnel Review
Vol. 48 No. 5, 2019
pp. 1186-1208
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/PR-04-2018-0133
Received 15 April 2018
Revised 11 August 2018
12 December 2018
Accepted 6 January 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0048-3486.htm
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48,5
Despite the variety of theories debating what the proper leadership style for innovative
work behaviors among employees should be, prior research has emphasized the importance
of transformational leadership to do so (Masa’deh et al., 2016; Rawung et al., 2015).
Transformational leadership can be described as a style of leadership that promotes the
collective interest of employees, helping them to reach collective goals (García-Morales et al.,
2012). We expect that transformational leadership is going to enhance employee’s
innovative work behaviors. Scholars extensively discuss innovation topics and verify
innovation to be vital for the competitive advantage of enterprises in the manufacturing and
high-tech industries. The motives for innovation in these two industries typically include
increasing employees’intrinsic motivation (Chen et al., 2013), pursuit of expertise (Schulze
et al., 2014) and demand for autonomy (Puranam et al., 2006). Employees have a relatively
low demand for and reliance on supervisor leadership (Stoker et al., 2001). Such
characteristics are dissimilar from those observed in the service industry especially in
hospitality industry. In general, the service industry is customer-oriented, with relevant
instructions often provided by supervisors. By integrating equipment and knowledge,
employees provide services with heterogeneous characteristics such as warmth and
creativity, thus shaping an enterprise’s innovation image.
Because service innovation enables organizations to create value, achieve market
efficiency and gain customer loyalty (Kindström et al., 2013), enhancing employee innovative
behaviors is a typical organizational goal. However, limited research on transformational
leadership and e mployee innovati ve work behavior did n ot directly test u nderlying
mechanisms. This is a critical limitation since motivational states likely serve as key
mediators between leadership and employees’behavioral reactions (Patiar and Wang, 2016).
To address the limitation, we delineated and empirically tested the effect of transformational
leadership on innovative work behavior via job crafting. Job crafting is a specific form of
proactive work behavior that entails changing and reshaping the tasks or relationships that
make up the job in order to keepthe job challenging, motivatingand healthy (Kim et al., 2018).
Research onjob crafting has increased rapidlyduring the past decade. However,the literature
has not thoroughlyexplored how leader behaviors relate to job crafting (Rudolph et al., 2017;
Wang et al., 2017) and how leaderbehaviors interact with individual differences(Schaufeli and
Taris, 2014). Recent studies have shown that job crafting can result in increased work
engagement,creativity and job performance(Demerouti et al., 2015; Slemp andVella-Brodrick,
2014; Van Wingerden et al., 2017). We expect job crafting to mediate the effect of
transformational leadership on innovative work behavior.
This study also proposes that knowledge sharing behavior of an employee is going to
moderate the effect of transformational leadership on innovative work behavior. Knowledge
sharing refersto propensity of an individual to share information with co-workers( Lin,2007).
Innovationis the outcome of information and knowledge that are availableabout a given area
of focus (Ritala et al., 2015). Therefore, sharingand exchanging informationamong employees
would moderate the effect of transformational leadership on innovative work behavior. As
individuals share knowledge, others become more resourceful and have enough information
to generate and implement new ideas under transformational leadership.
Our study complements and contributes to the existing research in several ways. First,
this study extends job crafting literature as it is still in its infancy and expands existing
knowledge (Schmitt et al., 2016; Wang et al., 2017) by being one of the first studies to
examine the important link between transformational leadership and innovative work
behavior through job crafting. Second, to date, relatively few studies have addressed factors
affecting innovative behavior in hospitality industry (Danaei and Iranbakhsh, 2016; Li and
Hsu, 2016), and previous research tended to focus on manufacturing (rather than service)
industries (Lai et al., 2016; Ren and Zhang, 2015). This is surprising, given the key role and
expectation of employee innovative behavior in this particular sector (Danaei and
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