The impact of servant leadership on team innovative performance: Mediating role of employee innovative behavior

Abstract

This study is aimed at exploring the impacts of servant leadership on team innovation performance, examining the role of employee innovative behavior as a mediator and team innovation atmosphere as a moderator. By conducting a questionnaire survey involving 647 employees from the hotel industry and utilizing structural equation modelling for data analysis. Additionally, the study shows that servant leadership significantly improves employees' innovative behavior, which in turn acts as a mediator between servant leadership and team innovation performance. The team innovation climate was identified as a positive moderator reinforcing the link between service-oriented leadership and employee innovation behavior, as well as employee innovation behavior and team innovation performance. This study provides an incisive view of the beneficial impact of service-oriented leadership on team innovation performance, emphasizing the mediating and moderating role played by employee innovation behaviour and team innovation atmosphere. Based on hotel management, the pursuit of timely and effective responses within an intensely competitive market environment is critical to safeguarding the hotel's competitive standing. To address this challenge, the study offers the following recommendations: the foremost emphasis should be on bolstering employees' innovation capabilities. Second, hotel managers are advised to meticulously select, train, and cultivate leaders with a strong service orientation. Thirdly, enterprise leaders should continually elevate their personal knowledge to provide superior guidance to subordinates.