The Mediating Role of Inclusive Leadership in The Effect of Work Engagement on Innovative Work Behavior

Abstract

One of the important elements in present business life is the qualified human resources of the enterprises. Employees who make positive contribute to organizational activities, adopt organizational culture, dedicate themselves to their organization, engage their work and organization, and have a high level of work engagement, provide important advantages to enterprises. In a global competitive environment, in terms of achieving the competitive advantage provided by innovation activities to the enterprises, the contribution of employees to innovation processes is regarded as an important element. Interactions of employees with inclusive leaders provide convenience in creating the resources needed by the employees and in innovative activities as being role models to the employees. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to examine the mediating effect of inclusive leadership in the relationship between work engagement and innovative work behaviour. For this purpose, data were collected from 206 participants working in food production companies in Gaziantep province. In the analysis of data, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyzes were conducted, correlations between variables were determined and goodness of fit tests and regression analysis of the model were performed with structural equation modelling. As a result of the analysis, it has been found that work engagement positively and significantly affects the inclusive leadership and innovative work behaviour. It was also found that inclusive leadership positively and significantly affects the innovative work behavior. As a result of mediating analysis, it was found that inclusive leadership has a mediating role in the relationship between the work engagement and innovative work behavior.