Leaders’ Innovative Work Behavior: The Role of Business Acumen, Innovative Self-Efficacy, and Openness

Didik Iswahyudi, Arum Etikariena
(Submitted 31 January 2025)
(Published 31 October 2025)

Abstract


Based on the conservation of resources principle, behavior can be exhibited by an individual because of the resource investments that are deployed to obtain other resources. This study aims to examine the role of business acumen, innovative self-efficacy, and openness to experience, which are personal resources on innovative work behavior. The study involved leaders at PT X, an energy company in Indonesia (n = 232). The leaders were employees in senior management, middle management, or frontline management. Participants were selected using proportionate stratified sampling. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the research hypotheses. The study found that only business acumen (b = 0,22; p-value < 0,01) and openness to experience (b = 0.78; p-value < 0.01) can predict innovative work behavior. The results of this study provide alternative pathways for developing a more precise innovation-oriented leadership development program.

Keywords


business acumen; innovative self-efficacy; innovative work behavior; leader; openness to experience

Full Text: PDF

DOI: 10.22146/gamajop.104317

References


Abdullah, N. H., Wahab, E., & Shamsuddin, A. (2019). Creative self-efficacy, innovative work behaviour and job performance among selected manufacturing employees. The Journal of Social Sciences Research, 5(2), 291–297. https://doi.org/10.32861/jssr.52.291.297

Afsar, B., & Umrani, W. A. (2019). Transformational leadership and innovative work behavior: The role of motivation to learn, task complexity and innovation climate. European Journal of Innovation Management, 23(3), 402–428. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJIM-12-2018-0257

Alfarajat, H. S., & Emeagwali, O. L. (2021). Antecedents of service innovative behavior: The role of spiritual leadership and workplace spirituality. Organizacija, 54(4), 320–333. https://doi.org/10.2478/orga-2021-0022

Amabile, T. M., Schatzel, E. A., Moneta, G. B., & Kramer, S. J. (2004). Leader behaviors and the work environment for creativity: Perceived leader support. The Leadership Quarterly, 15(1), 5–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2003.12.003

Anjani, S., & Gatari, E. (2019). Hubungan openness dan conscientiousness terhadap perilaku kerja inovatif: Peran moderasi dari masa kerja pada perusahaan startup. Jurnal Psikologi Talenta. https://scholar.ui.ac.id/en/publications/hubungan-openness-dan-conscientiousness-terhadap-perilaku-kerja-i

Arifin, Z., & Thoyib, A. (2015). The effect of role of leaders and strategic planning intensity on strategic diffusion of middle management in South Kalimantan government. European Journal of Business and Management, 7(28), 135–144. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=932b07d0acb790644d2d52518aaf2651c6be4920

Aristi, S. (2022, July 14). Siap pimpin transisi energi, dirut PLN beberkan jurus capai net zero emission 2060. PT PLN (Persero). https://web.pln.co.id/cms/media/siaran-pers/2022/07/siap-pimpin-transisi-energi-dirut-pln-beberkan-jurus-capai-net-zero-emission-2060

Asif, M., Hussain, M. A., Humayun, S., Awais, M., & Li, M. (2023). Investigating the role of ethical leadership on employee innovativeness through bottom-up job redesigning: Self-leadership as a catalyst. Sustainability, 15(9), 7190. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15097190

Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. Freeman.

Baptista, J., Stein, M. K., Klein, S., Watson-Manheim, M. B., & Lee, J. (2020). Digital work and organisational transformation: Emergent digital/human work configurations in modern organisations. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 29(2), 101618. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsis.2020.101618

Beaton, D. E., Bombardier, C., Guillemin, F., & Ferraz, M. B. (2000). Guidelines for the process of cross-cultural adaptation of self-report measures. Spine, 25(24), 3186–3191. https://doi.org/10.1097/00007632-200012150-00014

Beghetto, R. A. (2006). Creative self-efficacy: Correlates in middle and secondary students. Creativity Research Journal, 18(4), 447–457. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326934crj1804_4

Blaskovics, B., Maró, Z. M., Klimkó, G., Papp-Horváth, V., & Csiszárik-Kocsir, Á. (2023). Differences between public-sector and private-sector project management practices in Hungary from a competency point of view. Sustainability, 15(14), 11236. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151411236

Bleidorn, W., Schwaba, T., Zheng, A., Hopwood, C. J., Sosa, S. S., Roberts, B. W., & Briley, D. A. (2022). Personality stability and change: A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 148(7–8), 588–611. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000365

Bos-Nehles, A. C., & Veenendaal, A. A. (2019). Perceptions of HR practices and innovative work behavior: The moderating effect of an innovative climate. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 30(18), 2661–2683. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2017.1380680

Bouhali, R., Mekdad, Y., Lebsir, H., & Ferkha, L. (2015). Leader roles for innovation: Strategic thinking and planning. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 181, 72–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.04.867

Bowling, N. A., Huang, J. L., Bragg, C. B., Khazon, S., Liu, M., & Blackmore, C. E. (2016). Who cares and who is careless? Insufficient effort responding as a reflection of respondent personality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 111(2), 218–229. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000085

Carmeli, A., & Schaubroeck, J. (2007). The influence of leaders’ and other referents’ normative expectations on individual involvement in creative work. The Leadership Quarterly, 18(1), 35–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2006.11.001

Chen, G., Gully, S. M., & Eden, D. (2004). General self-efficacy and self-esteem: Toward theoretical and empirical distinction between correlated self-evaluations. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 25(3), 375–395. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.251

Christie, A., & Tippmann, E. (2024). Intended or unintended strategy? The activities of middle managers in strategy implementation. Long Range Planning, 57(1), 102410. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2023.102410

Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Normal personality assessment in clinical practice: The NEO Personality Inventory. Psychological Assessment, 4(1), 5–13. https://doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.4.1.5

Darling, S. D., & Cunningham, J. B. (2016). Underlying values and competencies of public and private sector managers. Asian Education and Development Studies, 5(4), 371–387. https://doi.org/10.1108/AEDS-09-2015-0050

De Jong, J. P. J., & Den Hartog, D. N. (2005). Determinanten van innovatief gedrag: Een onderzoek onder kenniswerkers in het MKB. Gedrag & Organisatie, 18(5), 235–259. https://doi.org/10.5117/2005.018.005.001

Dediu, V., Leka, S., & Jain, A. (2018). Job demands, job resources and innovative work behaviour: A European Union study. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 27(3), 310–323. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359432X.2018.1444604

DeVellis, R. F. (2017). Scale development: Theory and applications (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.

Douven, I. (2018). A Bayesian perspective on Likert scales and central tendency. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 25(3), 1203–1211. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-017-1344-2


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2025 Gadjah Mada Journal of Psychology (GamaJoP)

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