The young savages need leadership: drivers of innovativeness and satisfaction in the work environment of innovation-deficient industries

Abstract

This article in the journal “Gruppe. Interaction. Organisation.” answers the question of how companies in sectors that tend to be less innovative (e.g. insurance and energy sectors) can foster their employees’ innovative behaviour across all age groups. This is of high importance since companies have to be innovative in order to survive in competition; New Work as a strategic approach is on everyone’s lips. At the same time, the average age of employees is rising because qualified young people are lacking in many areas. A quantitative online survey based on validated scales was used to collect data on the design of a creativity-enhancing work environment, on expectations of New Work, on innovative behaviour in the working environment and on satisfaction with the degree of utilisation of one’s own innovation potential (utilisation satisfaction). The respondents were grouped by age and innovative behaviour with the help of a K-Means cluster analysis in order to be able to compare the younger innovators (“young savages”) with the older innovators (“experienced pioneers”). A surprising result is that “the young savages” need more guidance and structure than “the experienced pioneers”. Since innovativeness correlates significantly with utilisation satisfaction, linear regression analyses were also used to examine the drivers of this satisfaction in the work environment. Regardless of age, regular training and exercises lead to more satisfaction. However, the “young savages” also need guidance and support and are less able to cope with project groups. The “experienced pioneers”, on the other hand, primarily need the will and the infrastructure for mutual exchange. The results therefore suggest an age-dependent design of the working environment and leadership behaviour.