The Relationships Between Self-Leadership, Job Autonomy, Self-Efficacy and Innovative Work Behavior

Abstract

Innovative behavior in the workplace is becoming increasingly important to keep up with the market changes. To investigate potential antecedents of innovative work behavior, this study examined the mediation role of self-efficacy on the relationship between self-leadership and innovative work behavior. Also, the moderation role of job autonomy between self-leadership and self-efficacy was researched. Lacking one overarching theory, the social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986) and the job characteristics model (Hackman & Oldham, 1976) are used as a theoretical basis in describing the proposed relationships. The sample consisted of 147 working adults from 23 nations, primarily from the Netherlands, who completed a crosssectional online survey. The findings revealed that an employee’s belief in their abilities, selfefficacy, mediates the relationship between self-leadership behavior and their tendency to show innovative work behavior ((β = .16, p < .05). This indicates that employees who exhibit self-leadership behaviors tend to have higher levels of self-efficacy, which in turn leads to more innovative work behavior. However, the moderation effect of job autonomy on the relationship between self-leadership and self-efficacy was not found to be significant. Similarly, no correlation between self-leadership behavior and job autonomy could be found. Job autonomy thus operates independently from self-leadership behavior on innovative work behavior. A post-hoc analysis revealed that job autonomy acts as a direct antecedent of innovative work behavior, being even a stronger predictor than self-efficacy. Therefore, organizations aiming to foster innovative work behavior of employees should encourage job autonomy and create supportive environments for self-efficacy development.