Verification of the Causal Relationship between Paradoxical Leadership and Innovative Performance ―The Serial Multiple Mediating Effect of Psychological Empowerment and Job Engagement―

Abstract

Paradoxical leadership is a new leadership style that integrates balance and coordinates environmental changes differently from the traditional leadership style. In particular, in the current situation where innovation performance is important due to uncertainty about the future, it is necessary to demonstrate the causal relationship between paradoxical leadership and innovative performance. In order to specifically identify the process in which paradoxical leadership influences innovative performance, this study attempted to verify psychological empowerment and job engagement via serial multiple mediating effects. In order to verify the hypotheses presented in this study, a survey was conducted on employees who work in Chinese SMEs, and data from a total of 269 employees were used for empirical analysis. A measurement tool whose validity has already been secured in previous studies was applied to measure variables. For the empirical analysis, Hayes' SPSS PROCESS MACRO was used. According to the results of this research, the theoretical and practical implications were presented. By verifying paradoxical leadership effectiveness in the Chinese organizational context, new roles and influences of paradoxical leadership were revealed. Finally, actual utilization plans were presented in organizations and the direction for future research was discussed.