Abstract

Extensive research has been conducted promoting empowerment, inclusive decision making, and self-determination by employees. However, where does an organization initiate change if employees stay in their comfort zone and rather have a work-to-rule mentality? They just do not take over responsibility and the power they are given. The inductive case study involved first-hand data about leader-member exchange and corporate culture. A qualitative research approach was selected by employing personal construct psychology to receive an unbiased cultural view of employees and leaders interacting. A sample of 61 repertory grid structured interviews with 21 leaders and 40 employees produced 782 unique personal assessment criteria. The applied methodology allows a quantitative analysis of these assessments in association with leadership, error management, and employees’ proactive behavior. This unusual psychological-based approach chosen as intuitive interviews predicated on personal construct psychology is unlikely to provoke socially desirable or questionnaire-driven results. Based on the case study findings, a systematic review of contemporary scientific literature was conducted to generate broadly applicable results. The final qualitative synthesis included 41 research articles relevant to the investigated topic. Theoretical and empirical results allowed concluding that leadership vulnerability supports error management and employees’ psychological safety. These combinations are prerequisites to proactive behavior. Additional preconditions to proactivity are employee resilience and organizational commitment. This article’s results could give practical recommendations in case organizations lack the proactive behavior of their workforce. Finally, this article advocates further research on vulnerability in leadership and managers communicating their own weaknesses and mistakes as it is an underrepresented area in current scientific literature.

Keywords: employee resilience, empowerment, organizational engagement, organizational learning, proactive behavior, psychological safety.

JEL Classification: M12, M21, M54, M50, M14.

Cite as: Bundtzen, H., & Hinrichs, G. (2021). Innovation capability of the company: the roles of leadership and error management. Marketing and Management of Innovations, 1, 112-123. https://doi.org/10.21272/mmi.2021.1-09

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

References

1. Avolio, B. J., & Gardner, W. L. (2005). Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. The leadership quarterly, 16(3), 315-338. [Google Scholar][CrossRef]
2. Avolio, B. J., Gardner, W. L., Walumbwa, F. O., Luthans, F., & May, D. R. (2004). Unlocking the mask: A look at the process by which authentic leaders impact follower attitudes and behaviors. The leadership quarterly, 15(6), 801-823. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
3. Bannister, D., & Fransella, F. (1981). Der Mensch als Forscher: Die Psychologie der Persönlichen Konstrukte. Aschendorff.
4. Bourne, D. & Jankowicz, D. (2018). The Repertory Grid Technique. In: Ciesielska M. und Jemielniak D. (Hg.): Qualitative Methodologies in Organization Studies. Cham: Springer International Publishing, S. 127–149. Retrieved from [Link]
5. Caniels, M. C. (2019). Proactivity and supervisor support in creative process engagement. European Management Journal, 37(2), 188-197. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
6. Caniels, M. C., & Baaten, S. M. (2019). How a learning-oriented organizational climate is linked to different proactive behaviors: The role of employee resilience. Social Indicators Research, 143(2), 561-577. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
7. Cassell, C., Close, P., Duberley, J., & Johnson, P. (2000). Surfacing embedded assumptions: using repertory grid methodology to facilitate organizational change. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 9(4), 561-573. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
8. Chappell, S. F., Delbecq, A. L., & McCready, W. C. (2020). Spiritual leadership development: An exemplar protocol. Journal of Management, Spirituality & Religion, 17(1), 51-68. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
9. Chen, Y., Liu, B., Zhang, L., & Qian, S. (2018). Can leader «humility» spark employee «proactivity»? The mediating role of psychological empowerment. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 39(3), 326–339. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
10. Cheng, J., Bai, H., & Hu, C. (2019). The relationship between ethical leadership and employee voice: The roles of error management climate and organizational commitment. Journal of Management & Organization, 1-19. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
11. Clare, H. (2018). Vision and vulnerability: thoughts on leadership and conservation. Studies in Conservation, 63(1), 64-69. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
12. Couris, J. D. (2020). Vulnerability: The Secret to Authentic Leadership Through the Pandemic. Journal of Healthcare Management, 65(4), 248-251. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
13. Cranmer, G. A., Goldman, Z. W., & Houghton, J. D. (2019). I’ll do it myself: self-leadership, proactivity, and socialization. Leadership & Organization Development Journal. [Google Scholar][CrossRef]
14. Dedahanov, A. T., Bozorov, F., & Sung, S. (2019). Paternalistic leadership and innovative behavior: Psychological empowerment as a mediator. Sustainability, 11(6), 1770. [Google Scholar][CrossRef]
15. do Nascimento, T. T., Porto, J. B., & Kwantes, C. T. (2018). Transformational leadership and follower proactivity in a volunteer workforce. Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 28(4), 565-576. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
16. Easterby‐Smith, M., Thorpe, R., & Holman, D. (1996). Using repertory grids in management. Journal of european industrial training, 20(3), 3–30. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
17. Eldor, L., & Harpaz, I. (2019). The nature of learning climate in public administration: A cross-sectorial examination of its relationship with employee job involvement, proactivity, and creativity. The American Review of Public Administration, 49(4), 425-440. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
18. Farnese, M. L., Fida, R., & Picoco, M. (2020). Error orientation at work: Dimensionality and relationships with errors and organizational cultural factors. Current Psychology, 1-20. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
19. Fransella, F. E. (2003). International handbook of personal construct psychology. John Wiley & Sons Ltd. [Google Scholar]
20. Fromm, M. (2004). Introduction to the repertory grid interview. Waxmann Verlag. [Google Scholar]
21. Gower, J. C. (1975). Generalized procrustes analysis. Psychometrika, 40(1), 33-51. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
22. Grice, J. W., & Assad, K. K. (2009). Generalized procrustes analysis: a tool for exploring aggregates and persons. Applied Multivariate Research, 13(1), 93-112. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
23. Guchait, P., Zhao, X., Madera, J., Hua, N., & Okumus, F. (2018). Can error management culture increase work engagement in hotels? The moderating role of gender. Service Business, 12(4), 757-778. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
24. Guerrero, S., Chênevert, D., Vandenberghe, C., Tremblay, M., & Ayed, A. K. B. (2018). Employees’ psychological empowerment and performance: how customer feedback substitutes for leadership. Journal of Services Marketing, 32(7), 868–879. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
25. Hauser, M., Jonas, K., & Riemann, R. (2011). Measuring salient food attitudes and food-related values. An elaborated, conflicting and interdependent system. Appetite, 57(2), 329-338. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
26. Ito, A., & Bligh, M. C. (2016). Feeling vulnerable? Disclosure of vulnerability in the charismatic leadership relationship. Journal of Leadership Studies, 10(3), 66-70. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
27. Javed, B., Jalees, T., Herani, G. M., & Rolle, J. A. (2020). Error Management Culture and its impact on organizational performance: A moderated mediation model. Journal of Business and Retail Management Research, 15(1). [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
28. Jokisaari, M., & Vuori, J. (2018). Leaders’ resources and newcomer socialization: the importance of delegation. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 33(2), 161–175. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
29. Kanfer, R., Frese, M., & Johnson, R. E. (2017). Motivation related to work: A century of progress. Journal of Applied Psychology, 102(3), 338. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
30. Kelly, G. (1955). Personal construct psychology. Nueva York: Norton. [Google Scholar]
31. Kelly, G. A. (1991). The psychology of personal constructs, Vol. 1: A theory of personality; Vol. 2: Clinical diagnosis and psychotherapy. [Google Scholar]
32. Kim, M., & Beehr, T. A. (2019). The power of empowering leadership: Allowing and encouraging followers to take charge of their own jobs. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 1-34. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
33. Kuntz, J. R., Malinen, S., & Näswall, K. (2017). Employee resilience: Directions for resilience development. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 69(3), 223. [Google Scholar]
34. Li, R., Chen, Z., Zhang, H., & Luo, J. (2019). How Do Authoritarian Leadership and Abusive Supervision Jointly Thwart Follower Proactivity? A Social Control Perspective. Journal of Management. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
35. Lohaus, A. (1982). Möglichkeiten individuumzentrierter Datenerhebung. Arbeiten zur Sozialwissenschaftlichen Psychologie. [Google Scholar]
36. Mak, A. H., Lumbers, M., Eves, A., & Chang, R. C. (2013). An application of the repertory grid method and generalised Procrustes analysis to investigate the motivational factors of tourist food consumption. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 35, 327-338. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
37. Mansoor, S., & Ali, M. (2020). Transformational leadership and employee outcomes: the mediating role of psychological empowerment. Leadership & Organization Development Journal. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
38. Maurer, T. J., Hartnell, C. A., & Lippstreu, M. (2017). A model of leadership motivations, error management culture, leadership capacity, and career success. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 90(4), 481-507. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
39. Meyer, F., Le Fevre, D. M., & Robinson, V. M. (2017). How leaders communicate their vulnerability: Implications for trust building. International Journal of Educational Management, 31(2), 221-23. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
40. Moher, D., Liberati, A., Tetzlaff, J., Altman, D. G., & Prisma Group. (2009). Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA statement. PLoS medicine, 6(7), e1000097. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
41. Oc, B. (2018). Contextual leadership: A systematic review of how contextual factors shape leadership and its outcomes. The Leadership Quarterly, 29(1), 218-235. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
42. Parker, S. K., & Collins, C. G. (2010). Taking stock: Integrating and differentiating multiple proactive behaviors. Journal of management, 36(3), 633-662. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
43. Parker, S. K., Wang, Y., & Liao, J. (2019). When is proactivity wise? A review of factors that influence the individual outcomes of proactive behavior. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 6, 221-248. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
44. Rhee, S. Y., Oh, H. J., & Yu, G. J. (2018). High‐performance work systems and firm capabilities in Korea: a fit perspective with organizational culture. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 56(3), 317-340. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
45. Robertson, A. (2003). Making sense of the ‘group mind’. International handbook of personal construct psychology, 339-348. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
46. Scheer, J., & Catina, A. (1993). Einführung in die Repertory Grid-Technik. Band 1: Grundlagen und Methoden. Göttingen: Hans Huber.
47. Schermuly, C. C., & Meyer, B. (2020). Transformational leadership, psychological empowerment, and flow at work. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 29(5), 740-752. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
48. Tak, J., Seo, J., & Roh, T. (2019). The influence of authentic leadership on authentic followership, positive psychological capital, and project performance: testing for the mediation effects. Sustainability, 11(21), 6028. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
49. Thomas, R. A., Pentareddy, S., Suganthi, L., Joy, G. V., & Anbuudayasankar, S. P. (2018). Road to employee commitment: the role of empowerment, leadership and culture. International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, 16(4), 486-506. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
50. Van Dyck, C., Frese, M., Baer, M., & Sonnentag, S. (2005). Organizational error management culture and its impact on performance: a two-study replication. Journal of applied psychology, 90(6), 1228. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
51. Vough, H. C., Bindl, U. K., & Parker, S. K. (2017). Proactivity routines: The role of social processes in how employees self-initiate change. Human Relations, 70(10), 1191-1216. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
52. Wang, X., Guchait, P., & Paşamehmetoğlu, A. (2020). Tolerating errors in hospitality organizations: relationships with learning behavior, error reporting and service recovery performance. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 32(8), 2635–2655. [Googlle Scholar] [CrossRef]
53. Wright, R. P., & Lam, S. S. (2002). Comparing apples with apples: The importance of element wording in grid applications. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 15(2), 109-119. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
54. Xenikou, A., & Simosi, M. (2006). Organizational culture and transformational leadership as predictors of business unit performance. Journal of managerial psychology, 21(6), 566–579. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
55. Ye, Q., Wang, D., & Li, X. (2018). Promoting employees’ learning from errors by inclusive leadership. Baltic Journal of Management, 13 (1), S. 125–142. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
56. Yeo, R. K. (2020). Know thyself: Leading through the core of you in times of turbulence. Organizational Dynamics, 100800. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
57. Young, H. R., Glerum, D. R., Joseph, D. L., & McCord, M. A. (2020). A meta-analysis of transactional leadership and follower performance: Double-edged effects of LMX and empowerment. Journal of Management. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
58. Zhang, J., Song, L. J., Wang, Y., & Liu, G. (2018). How authentic leadership influences employee proactivity: the sequential mediating effects of psychological empowerment and core self-evaluations and the moderating role of employee political skill. Frontiers of Business Research in China, 12(1), 1-21. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]