Innovativeness white papers
Title: Empowering Leadership and Employee Innovation: A Meta--Analysis and Field Experiment
Publication Date: July 09, 2026
Magazine: Leadership Quarterly (ResearchGate)
Main Conclusions:
- Meta--Analytic Evidence: A meta--analysis of 52 independent studies confirms a significant positive relationship (r = 0.45) between empowering leadership and employee innovative work behavior.
- Autonomy and Competence: Empowering leaders enhance innovation by fostering feelings of self--determination and personal impact among subordinates.
- Experimental Results: A field experiment involving 120 cross--functional teams showed that delegating authority for project selection led to a 30% increase in the successful implementation of novel ideas over a six--month period.