Drivers of Innovative Behaviors: The Moderator Roles of Perceived Organizational Support and Psychological Empowerment

Abstract

Innovative behaviors are one of the most important factors that affect the competitive performance of organizations. Although there are numerous studies in the literature which try to determine the antecedents of innovative behaviors, there are still gaps to fully understand the nature of these behaviors. In this respect, the purpose of this study is to determine its individual and organizational-level predictors in the light of the Social Exchange Theory. In this respect, we investigated the effect of proactive personality on innovative behaviors and the moderator roles of perceived organizational support and psychological empowerment on this relationship. More specifically, we hypothesized that employees, who have proactive personality, are more prone to exhibit innovative behaviors. We also hypothesized that the proposed relationship between proactive personality and innovative behaviors is stronger when the levels of perceived organizational support and psychological empowerment is high. The sample of the study consisted of 436 employees (in white goods sector) working in Istanbul. The findings show that proactive personality, perceived organizational support, and psychological empowerment are the statistically significant and positive predictors of innovative behaviors. The most powerful predictor of innovative behaviors in our theoretical model is proactive personality; the others are perceived organizational support and psychological empowerment, respectively. Following this, the findings also show that while the moderating effect of psychological empowerment is statistically significant, the interactional effect of perceived organizational support is not significant. Managerial and further research implications are provided.