When leaders forgive: encouraging radical innovation in more altruistic organizations

Purpose There is general agreement on the importance of innovation to improve business performance and competitiveness. In recent years, many studies have sought to unravel what conditions are conducive to innovation. Following this trend, the present study seeks to broaden the understanding of the antecedents of radical innovation. To this end, and drawing on positive organizational psychology, the study focuses on the role of leaders and the importance of improving working conditions within companies, favoring innovation in more respectful and prosocial organizations. Design/methodology/approach The study provides, through structural equations, empirical evidence of the relationship between leader's forgiveness and radical innovation, using altruism as an explanatory variable. The study was conducted in a population of 11,594 Spanish companies. A sample frame of 554 questionnaires from 277 different firms was obtained. Findings Results confirm the hypotheses proposed in the model. Forgiveness, analyzed as a leader behavior, promotes altruism within companies and, in turn, radical innovation. Originality/value This is one of the few empirical studies that analyzes the consequences of leader's forgiveness in the organizational context

Leadership for sustainability: fostering organizational learning to achieve radical

Purpose – While concerns about the social and environmental impact that result from business activity continue to grow, a stream of research consolidates to understand the mechanisms that can favor more sustainable companies. The present study tries to expand the knowledge of the antecedents of radical innovation by analyzing the effects of alternative and understudied constructs. Grounded on stewardship and organizational learning theories, this paper analyzes how leaders that are concerned with sustainability and the social impact of their companies may boost this type of innovation by facilitating an organizational context that promotes experimentation, dialog, participative decision-making, risk-taking and interaction with the external environment. Design/methodology/approach – Through structural equation modeling, the study provides empirical evidence of the positive effect of stewardship leader behavior on radical innovation, using organizational learning capability as an explanatory variable. Findings – Results suggest that organizational learning capability fully mediates the relationship between stewardship leader behavior and radical innovation. Research limitations/implications – This research focuses on a sample frame of Spanish companies with recognized excellence in human resources management. Practical implications – In the context of a growing interest in sustainable development, and concern for the consequences of economic and business activities, this study highlights the role played by stewardship leader behavior to foster radical innovation and organizational learning capability which, in turn, represent essential tools to compete in a globalized and turbulent context. Originality/value – To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical study that analyzes the mediating effect of organizational learning capability in the relationship between stewardship leader behavior and radical innovation. This paper contributes to the understanding of how stewardship leader behavior affects radical innovation and the key role played by organizational learning capabilit

The effects of altruism and relationship conflict on organizational learning

Purpose – This paper aims to, prompted by a recent paradigm shift in the organizational sciences, to explore some antecedents of organizational learning capability, focusing on altruism and relationship conflict. Design/methodology/approach – To test the hypotheses, the structural equation technique was applied to data from a survey of Spanish firms with recognized excellence in human resource management. Findings – The results of this research show that, in these firms, altruism facilitates learning capacity both directly and indirectly (through relationship conflict). Relationship conflict is posited as a mediating variable that explains how altruism improves organizational learning. Research limitations/implications – The limitations of this study include excessive heterogeneity of the sample size and industrial sector and the type of firm included in the sample. Due to the potential benefits that altruism seems to have for organizations, future research could continue to investigate the consequences of altruism in organizations. Practical implications – Altruism provides organizations with a value that can facilitate organizational learning capability not only directly, but also by reducing relationship conflict. Altruism may offer organizations a tool they can use to improve their success in dealing with the challenges of today’s uncertain and constantly changing economic environment. Originality/value – This study proposes a common altruistic approach that is far removed from traditional self-interested models in organizational literature. This study identifies altruism and relationship conflict as antecedents of organizational learning capability.The authors thank the University Jaume I (Ref. P11B2008-13) and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Ref. ECO2011-26780) for its financial support for this research

Altruism and organizational learning capability: A study on firms most highly valued by their workers in Spain

Due to the new characteristics of the economic and business environment, organizational learning capability has become essential for organizational competitiveness and success. Therefore, there is a need to develop firm strategies that foster organizational learning capability within organizations. This study shows the importance of altruism in organizations in order to facilitate the organizational learning process, and thus enhancing organizational performance.Due to the new characteristics of the economic and business environment, organizational learning capability has become essential for organizational competitiveness and success. Therefore, there is a need to develop firm strategies that foster organizational learning capability within organizations. This study shows the importance of altruism in organizations in order to facilitate the organizational learning process, and thus enhancing organizational performance

Acciones para la mejora del rendimiento académico a través de la autoevaluación en el aula virtual

Este artículo presenta una experiencia de innovación docente que intenta favorecer la autoevaluación entre el alumnado a través de la utilización de cuestionarios en el aula virtual. El objetivo de este proyecto es medir la comprensión de los contenidos y los objetivos de una asignatura, resolver dificultades que aparecen en el proceso de aprendizaje y mejorar las tasas de rendimiento académico.

Are altruistic leaders worthy? The role of organizational learning capability

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between altruistic leader behaviors, organizational learning capability and organizational performance. Design/methodology/approach – The sampling frame consists of several databases or listings of business that consider people as a key element of the organization and are considered by their employees to be good firms to work for or organizational environments where human resources management has high priority (n=251). The authors use structural equation modeling to test if the relationship between altruistic leader behaviors and organizational performance is mediated by organizational learning capability. Findings – Results suggest that organizational learning capability fully mediates between altruistic leader behaviors and organizational performance. Thus, organizational learning capability plays a key role in explaining how altruistic leader behaviors affect organizational performance, essentially because it facilitates the creation of a creative, participatory and dialogue-based environment that promotes organizational learning. Research limitations/implications – The database used in the study is very heterogeneous. Future research might delimit the database by organization size or sector. Qualitative studies may also improve our understanding of the relationships studied and enable other concepts to be included. Practical implications – This study provides evidence of the positive relationship between altruistic leaders and performance. However, recruiting and fomenting altruistic leaders is not sufficient on its own to improve performance, and should be accompanied by implementing other facilitating factors of organizational learning such as dialogue or experimentation. Originality/value – In recent years some studies have linked leadership with organizational learning. However, this is one of the first studies to concentrate on altruistic leader behaviors as such, a concept that has received scant mention in the literature despite its importance in a number of leadership styles, and its relevance today as an alternative to the egotistic leader. The authors offer empirical evidence of the role of altruistic leader behavior as an antecedent of organizational learning capability and subjective measures of performance.The authors thank the University Jaume I (Ref. P11B2008-13) and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Ref. ECO2011-26780) for its financial support for this researc

How does altruistic leader behavior foster radical innovation? The mediating effect of organizational learning capability

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence of the relationship between altruistic leader behavior and radical innovation, using organizational learning as an explanatory variable. Design/methodology/approach – To confirm the hypotheses, structural equations were used on a data set from a survey carried out on Spanish firms with recognized excellence in human resources management. Findings – The study empirically validates the conceptu al model. Results suggest that organizational learning capability fully mediates the r elationship between altruistic lead er behavior and radical innovation. Research limitations/implications – The database used in the study is very heterogeneous. Future research might delimit the database by organization size or sector. Practical implications – Results suggest ideas for organizations that want to implement a working environment that fosters innovation performance in order to achieve radical innovations. Originality/value – This is one of the few studies to concentrate on altruistic leader behaviors as such. This paper contributes to understanding how altruistic leader behavior affects radical innovation and the key role played by organizational learning capability.The authors thank the University Jaume I (Ref. P11B2008-13) and the Spanish Innovation Ministry (Ref. ECO2011-26780) for its financial support for this research

Effects of emotional healing on organisational learning and radical innovation: a leadership-based approach

Purpose The objective of this study was to provide empirical evidence of the relationship between emotional healing, analysed as a leader behaviour and radical innovation. Design/methodology/approach To test the hypotheses, structural equations were used, with organisational learning capability as an explanatory variable. The study was conducted in a population of 402 Spanish companies. A sample frame of 292 questionnaires was obtained from 146 different organisations. The fieldwork took place in two stages, in 2010 and again in 2015. Findings Results confirm the hypotheses proposed in the model. Emotional healing promotes organisational learning capability and, in turn, radical innovation. Practical implications Our results provide some guidelines for companies that are trying to develop radical innovations by improving the workplace conditions. Originality/value To our knowledge, there are no previous studies which studied the relationship between emotional healing and its effect on radical innovation. Therefore, providing empirical evidence of such a relationship is the main contribution of this paper

Promoting firm innovativeness through servant leadership and corporate social responsibility to employees

Purpose – Based on the upper echelons and organisational identification theories, this paper focuses on the relationship between servant leadership and firm innovativeness, as well as the underlying mechanisms that explain this relationship. More specifically, we analyse the relationship between servant leadership, firm innovativeness and corporate social responsibility to employees (CSRE). Design/methodology/approach – A total of 285 Spanish firms took part in the study, and 570 questionnaires were gathered. Structural equation modelling was used to validate the proposed hypotheses. Findings – Results suggest that servant leadership has a positive relationship with firm innovativeness, and this relationship is fully mediated by CSRE. Research limitations/implications – HR managers have an overall view of their company and of the behaviour of other leaders. However, future research should also consider employees perceptions. The present study is cross-sectional, and it would be interesting to study the development of the interaction between leaders and followers, which calls for longitudinal and multilevel studies. Practical implications – According to our results, managers could foster firm innovativeness if they select and promote leaders who display the different leadership behaviours related to servant leadership: empowerment, servitude, accountability, courage, authenticity, humility and stewardship. Moreover, training programmes should also foster these behaviours. Originality/value – Few empirical studies analyse the relationship between servant leadership and innovation. The main contribution of the present research is to further the current knowledge of this relationship by disentangling the mediating role of corporate social responsibility to employees

Leaders who empower: a gateway to radical innovation

The main goal of the current study is to analyze the relationship between leaders' empowerment, radical innovation and organizational performance. A total of 300 Spanish companies participated in the study. In total, 600 valid questionnaires were obtained. Structural equations were used to validate the proposed hypotheses. Two different respondents in each company were selected to provide information. All the hypotheses proposed in the theoretical model were confirmed. This research provides empirical evidence of the relationship between leaders' empowerment and organizational performance, highlighting the mediation role played by radical innovation. Leaders who empower, promote radical innovation and, in turn, performance. To our knowledge, this is the first empirical study that analyzes the effect of leader's empowerment on radical innovation. Although in the former literature there are evidences of a positive relationship between empowerment and innovation, there are no studies that differentiate between innovation typologies