Human Resource Management and Innovative Behaviour: Considering Interactive, Informal Learning Activities

Abstract

In a rapidly changing business environment, organisations need to be entrepreneurial and innovative in order to identify new opportunities for sustained superior performance (Hayton, 2005; Shipton, West, Parkes, Dawson & Patterson, 2006). Innovation can be understood as a strategic orientation involving the regeneration of product, processes, services and/or strategies. It rests upon an organisation’s ability to learn through both exploration of new knowledge and exploitation of existing knowledge. One of the most critical resources that organisations can draw upon in order to achieve innovation at the organisational level is their employees’ innovative (work) behaviour (Cohn, Katzenbach & Vlak, 2008; West & Farr, 1990), also known as entrepreneurial behaviour (de Jong, Parker, Wennekers, & Wu, 2013). Employees’ innovative behaviour refers to the process of initiation and the intentional introduction of bringing new problem-solving ideas into use, thereby enhancing a product, service or process. It encompasses both idea generation (creativity) and the application of the new ideas within a group or organisation (Amabile, 1988; Nonaka, 1991). Entrepreneurial behaviour can be defined as the extent to which employees proactively engage in the creation, introduction and application of opportunities at work, marked by taking business-related risks (De Jong, et al., 2013).