상사의 임파워링 리더십이 조직구성원의 혁신행동에 미치는 영향

The Effects of Empowering Leadership on Innovative Behavior: The Mediating Effects of Productive Organizational Energy

Purpose - This study was conducted to identify the mediating effects of productive organizational energy in relation to the empirical verification of the effects of empowering leadership on innovative behavior of organizational members. Design/Methodology/Approach - We established a research model based on the results of prior research related to empowering leadership, organizational energy, and innovative behavior. The research model posited that when a leader shows empowerment through leadership, productive organizational energy would be activated in subordinates’ minds and this elevated energy would ultimately increase innovation behavior. To verify the model, a multi-source survey (response to the leader, independent variables and parameters) was conducted on 346 members of companies belonging to the research organization and general industry, and a total of 304 effective responses were obtained and used for hypothesis verification. Findings - As a result of the hypothesis testing, it was found that empowering leadership has a significantly positive influence on members’ innovative behavior, and that the relationship between empowering leadership and innovative behavior is fully mediated by productive organizational energy. Further analysis has shown that empowering leadership has positive effects on ‘emotional energy’, which represents one of the three dimensions of productive organizational energy that also include engulfing cognitive energy and behavioral energy. It was also revealed that emotional energy has positive effects on innovative behavior, supporting the mediating effects hypothesis. Research Implications - The study results imply that Korean leaders should focus on the “emotional energy“ when they try to energize their members. Other implications were also discussed along with study limitations.