The impact of transformational leadership on employee innovative behaviour in knowledge-intensive business services: Employee learning agility as a mediator
Keywords:
Transformational Leadership, Employee Innovative Behaviour, Employee Learning Agility, Knowledge-Intensive Business Services (KIBS), Structural Equation ModelingAbstract
In the era of knowledge economy, Knowledge-Intensive Business Services (KIBS) play a critical role in driving innovation and organizational competitiveness. This research study investigates the influence of transformational leadership on employee innovative behaviour in Yunnan's KIBS sector, focusing specifically on exploring the mediating role of employee learning agility. A quantitative research design was employed using a structured questionnaire survey administered to 588 employees from representative KIBS enterprises in Yunnan Province. Structural Equation Modeling was conducted to test the proposed hypotheses. The results reveal that transformational leadership has a significant positive direct effect on employee innovative behaviour (β = 0.314, p < 0.001). Moreover, employee learning agility plays significant mediating roles between transformational leadership and employee innovative behaviour (β = 0.154, p < 0.001). These findings offer a new explanatory framework illustrating how transformational leaders foster innovation by enhancing employees’ confidence in their capacity to learn and adapt in uncertain environments. Practically, the findings provide valuable insights for enterprise managers to cultivate innovation-driven organizational cultures by adopting transformational leadership behaviours, strengthening employee training, and developing programs that enhance learning agility.
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