Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Do Autonomous and Trusting Hospital Employees Generate, Promote, and Implement More Ideas? The role of distributed leadership agency. / Jønsson, Thomas Faurholt; Unterrainer, Christine; Kähler, Helena Grøn.
In: European Journal of Innovation Management, Vol. 25, No. 1, 01.2022, p. 55-72.Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Do Autonomous and Trusting Hospital Employees Generate, Promote, and Implement More Ideas?
T2 - The role of distributed leadership agency
AU - Jønsson, Thomas Faurholt
AU - Unterrainer, Christine
AU - Kähler, Helena Grøn
PY - 2022/1
Y1 - 2022/1
N2 - Purpose: Employees constitute an important source of innovation in organizations. Innovation management strategies often include attempts of stimulating employees' innovative contribution by instilling managerial trust and granting job autonomy. However, the authors suggest and investigate the role of employees' distributed leadership agency (DLA) in hospital employee-driven innovation. Design/methodology/approach: The authors tested the hypotheses using survey data from 1,536 nonmanagerial employees at a hospital in Denmark. In order to deal with a methodological risk of survey designs, the authors assessed and adjusted the results for common method variance (CMV). Findings: The authors validated a DLA measurement instrument and found an indirect relationship between job autonomy and trust in management on the one hand, via DLA, and with idea generation, promotion and implementation on the other hand. In addition, the results showed a small direct relationship between job autonomy and the three innovative behaviors. The results showed that CMV did bias relationships and reliabilities but only little. Practical implications: The study introduces distributed leadership to the field of innovation management and confirms that this concept is highly relevant for employee innovation. In order to strengthen an organization's innovative potential, leaders may not only need to grant autonomy and instill trust in their employees, but also gain from employee innovation by distributing leadership tasks to employees. Originality/value: This study is one of the first to introduce distributed leadership to the field of employee innovation management. By identifying distributed leadership as a key variable, the findings add to one’s extant understanding of how employee involvement encourages employee innovation.
AB - Purpose: Employees constitute an important source of innovation in organizations. Innovation management strategies often include attempts of stimulating employees' innovative contribution by instilling managerial trust and granting job autonomy. However, the authors suggest and investigate the role of employees' distributed leadership agency (DLA) in hospital employee-driven innovation. Design/methodology/approach: The authors tested the hypotheses using survey data from 1,536 nonmanagerial employees at a hospital in Denmark. In order to deal with a methodological risk of survey designs, the authors assessed and adjusted the results for common method variance (CMV). Findings: The authors validated a DLA measurement instrument and found an indirect relationship between job autonomy and trust in management on the one hand, via DLA, and with idea generation, promotion and implementation on the other hand. In addition, the results showed a small direct relationship between job autonomy and the three innovative behaviors. The results showed that CMV did bias relationships and reliabilities but only little. Practical implications: The study introduces distributed leadership to the field of innovation management and confirms that this concept is highly relevant for employee innovation. In order to strengthen an organization's innovative potential, leaders may not only need to grant autonomy and instill trust in their employees, but also gain from employee innovation by distributing leadership tasks to employees. Originality/value: This study is one of the first to introduce distributed leadership to the field of employee innovation management. By identifying distributed leadership as a key variable, the findings add to one’s extant understanding of how employee involvement encourages employee innovation.
KW - Distribueret ledelse
KW - Autonomi
KW - Medarbejderdrevet innovation
KW - Distributed leadership
KW - Employee involvement
KW - Employee-driven innovation
KW - JOB AUTONOMY
KW - CREATIVITY
KW - METHOD VARIANCE
KW - INNOVATION
KW - WORK ENGAGEMENT
KW - CONTEXT
U2 - 10.1108/EJIM-08-2019-0234
DO - 10.1108/EJIM-08-2019-0234
M3 - Journal article
VL - 25
SP - 55
EP - 72
JO - European Journal of Innovation Management
JF - European Journal of Innovation Management
SN - 1460-1060
IS - 1
ER -