Understanding employee innovative behavior: Integrating the social network and leader-member exchange perspectives

Abstract

By integrating social network theory and leader-member exchange (LMX) theory, we explore the effects of three types of social relationships on employee innovative behavior: weak ties outside the group, LMX, and strong ties within the group. The results from a sample in a high-tech firm showed that LMX fully mediated the positive relationship between out-group weak ties and innovative behavior. Furthermore, within-group strong ties negatively moderated the second stage of this indirect relationship, such that LMX was positively and significantly related to innovative behavior only when the number of within-group strong ties was low. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.