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Exploring the Relationship Between Leadership Style, Knowledge Management Practices, and Innovative Behavior

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Proceedings of the Colloquium on Administrative Science and Technology

Abstract

In today’s highly competitive marketplace, organizations have realized the importance of innovative behavior of employees. They believe creativity and innovation provide greater benefits in dealing with challenges of globalized economy. Although previous studies have given great attention to the innovative behavior of employees, less emphasis has been placed on sustaining this element. The practice and sustenance of innovative behaviors was not substantially discussed in previous literature. Past researchers also have discussed factors to sustain innovative activities in the organization. One of the main factors is leaders’ role. Leadership style is crucial in organizations to boost innovation performance. It is, therefore, imperative to investigate these leadership practices and most importantly understand how these variables can influence the practices and sustainability of innovation in organizations. Another main factor besides leaders’ role which is believed to have an influence towards employees’ innovative behavior is knowledge management practices. Knowledge management practices are able to enhance innovation in an organization Industries should, therefore, build a culture in which knowledge is valued across their business. Many organizations realized the importance of knowledge management practices but not many are willing to invest in it. This investigates practices and issues of knowledge management in organizations. The instrument used for data collection is a survey questionnaire responded by 84 employees working in private organizations in Shah Alam. Data was analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient and results indicate that transformational and transactional leaders have positive relationships with innovative behavior. This means that to boost innovativeness, leaders must able to demonstrate and practices transformational and transactional leadership styles. Knowledge responsiveness was found to be more important for organizations when responding to customer needs. The findings of this study assist managers in identifying and using the appropriate leadership styles, and thus contribute towards increased innovative behavior among employees.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express the deepest appreciation to all those who provided us the possibility to complete this research. Special thanks go to the Research Management Institute of UiTM (RMI) for helping in the progression and smoothness by providing the funding needed to complete this research without which it would have been impossible (600-RMI/SSP/DANA 5/3/DSP (195/2011). The authors are also grateful to the Dean of the Faculty of Business Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Professor Dr. Faridah Hj Hassan for the ongoing support.

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Correspondence to Ramita Abdul Rahim .

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Rahim, R., Salleh, N., Ahmad, S., Mustapha, R. (2015). Exploring the Relationship Between Leadership Style, Knowledge Management Practices, and Innovative Behavior. In: Hashim, R., Abdul Majeed, A. (eds) Proceedings of the Colloquium on Administrative Science and Technology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-4585-45-3_48

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