Employee participation and innovative work behaviour: the mediation effect of work engagement

Abstract

This article discusses the influence of work engagement as a mediator between employee participation on innovative work behavior. The value of employee participation in innovative behaviour cannot be denied. We know very little about how employee participation contributes to individual creativity and business innovation through work engagement, even though prior studies has been empirically tested the linked between HRM practices and innovation. Therefore, the objective of this study are twofold, first to identify the relationship between employee participation and innovative work behaviour, second to examine the mediating role of work engagement between employee participation and innovative work behaviour. Consequently, an analysis was conducted on 170 middle management employees in medium size enterprises using PLS-SEM approach. Results show that employee participation has significant effect on work engagement, and work engagement also has significant effect on innovative work behaviour. Work engagement also mediates the relationship between employee participation and innovative work behaviour. The findings of study add to the body of knowledge related to HR practices particularly in employee participation and give new insights to the organizations that employee participation is crucial indicator in determining the level of work engagement amongst decision maker especially in strengthening HRM implementation in organizations.