Leaders’ Calling and Employees’ Innovative Behavior: The Mediating Role of Work Meaning and the Moderating Effect of Supervisor’s Organizational Embodiment

Abstract

The objective of this research is to investigate whether and how leaders’ sense of calling influences employees’ innovative behavior, and to explore the conditions that may define the boundaries of this effect. Based on the theory of interpersonal sensemaking, this research conducted an empirical analysis using data from 186 pairs of supervisor-subordinate matching questionnaires and developed a moderated mediation model. We hypothesized and found that: first, leaders’ calling directly enhanced employees’ innovative behavior; second, the relationship between the leaders’ calling and employees’ innovative behavior was mediated by the employee’s sense of work meaning; third, the supervisor’s organizational embodiment positively regulated the relationship between the leaders’ calling and the employee’s sense of work meaning. Specifically, when the degree of the supervisor’s organizational embodiment is higher, the relationship between the leaders’ calling and the employee’s work meaning will be stronger. At the same time, the supervisor’s organizational embodiment positively regulates the mediating effect. Specifically, when the degree of the supervisor’s organizational embodiment is higher, the mediating effect of the employee’s work meaning is stronger.