IMPACT OF LEADERSHIP STYLES ON EMPLOYEES' INDIVIDUAL INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOR IN NEPALI PRIVATE BANKING SECTOR: ROLE OF KNOWLEDGE SHARING AND EMPOWERMENT

Abstract

The empirical evidences for the role of transformational and transactional leadership in stimulating innovative behavior is limited and inconsistent. The significance of leadership style is expected to increase in the services sector, due to its direct impact on economic development. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of knowledge sharing and empowerment on the effect of leadership styles on individual innovative behavior. There is an immense need to promote innovative work behavior in the banking industry as leadership plays a crucial role in promoting innovative work behavior in organization. Therefore, present study aims to enhance the understanding about innovative work behavior by examining the impact of empowerment and knowledge sharing on employee innovative work behavior. Two hundred and eighteen employees from fifteen private banks of the country participated in the survey. Correlation results indicated that transformational leadership, transactional leadership, knowledge sharing and empowerment were significantly related to individual innovative behavior. Results indicates that knowledge sharing mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and individual innovative behavior as well as with transactional leadership. The results also suggest that empowerment as a mediator did not mediate the relationship between transactional leadership and employee innovative behavior. Individual innovative behavior being one of the important topic in today's time, this study provides empirical evidence to researchers to explore the theme more extensively on various organization concepts.