The Influence of Entrepreneurial Leadership on Employees’ Innovative Behavior: The Role of Innovation Climate and Ethical Climate

Today, increasing competition and rapid changes in businesses have made innovation imperative for all organizations. An important and decisive factor in increasing organizational innovation and gaining competitive advantage is the employees’ innovative behavior. Meanwhile, the behavior of organization leaders and the climate of the work environment are of vital importance in cultivating employees’ innovative behaviors. The present research aimed to investigate the effect of entrepreneurial leadership on employees’ innovative behavior with the mediating role of innovation climate and ethical climate. The research is applied in purpose and descriptive-correlational in data collection methodology. The statistical population consists of employees of knowledge-based small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in East Azerbaijan province. The sample size was determined at 134 people using G-Power 3.1 software, and the participants were selected by the convenience sampling method. Data were collected using a standard questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by content validity and whose reliability was estimated by Cronbach’s alpha. The hypotheses were also tested using structural equation modeling in SMART PLS 4 software. The results showed the positive and significant effect of entrepreneurial leadership on the employees’ innovative behavior. Also, the mediating role of innovation climate and ethical climate in the relationship between entrepreneurial leadership and employees’ innovative behavior was confirmed. The results have important implications for SME managers who are looking for ways to increase innovative behavior among their employees.