The Relationship between Leader-Member Exchange and Innovative Work Behavior:The Mediating Role of the Voice Behavior

Abstract

Purpose - This research aims to examine the mediation mechanism between leader-member exchange(LMX) and innovative work behavior (IWB) through employee voice behavior. Specifically, this researchexploited the social exchange theory (SET) to examine the influence of LMX on IWB through employee voicebehavior. Within this context, employees performing in higher quality LMX relationships with IWB arelikely to exhibit more voice behavior.Design/methodology/approach – Self-reported questionnaires were applied to obtain data from 360employees mainly with engineering qualifications from four companies in the defense sector in Turkey.Data were collected with a simple random sampling method in November and December 2020. Hypotheseswere tested using correlation and regression analysis. The reason why the defense sector was selected forthis study is the fact that the defense industry field has characteristics that make for a unique workingenvironment.Findings - The findings show that LMX positively and significantly affects IWB and additionally voicebehavior has a mediating role in this relationship. LMX had a significant influence on employee voicebehavior that was ultimately associated with IWB. Finally, Voice behavior mediated the positive correlationbetween LMX and IWB, and stronger voice behavior boosted the indirect relationship.Discussion - This research reveals the effects of LMX and provides practical suggestions to help employeesexpress their opinions in the organization to enhance innovation performance. Based on the SET, thisresearch helps to understand how certain LMX which encourage high-quality exchange relationships withthe supervisors and foster employee voice behaviors, may nurture employee IWBs in the organizations.