Abstract:
In this era of rapid change such as globalization, technology advancement, and the knowledge-based economy have put increasing pressure on business creativity and innovation. Leaders have been pointed as one of the significant contributor that influences the innovative behaviours among employees in most countries. Despite agreement on the importance of leaders in triggering individual innovation, little integration of leadership and innovation research is found in the literature. Thus, this study aims to identify the relationship between leadership styles and employees’ innovative behavior in Malaysia’s context. The research was done in twelve hotels in Batu Pahat area. The variables in this research used the Five-point Likert Scale: authoritarian leadership styles (10 questions), participative leadership style (10 questions), delegative leadership style (10 questions) and employees’ innovative behavior (14 questions). This research employed the quantitative methodology to examine the relationship between independent variables and dependent variables. A total of 144 questionnaires were useable for this research. The data analyzed using Pearson Correlation Analysis to identify the hypothesis and also relationship between leadership styles and employees’ innovative behavior. The result indicated there is a strong and significant relationship between participative leadership styles and employees’ innovative behavior. However, there are two negative and significant relationships between authoritarian leadership styles and delegative leadership style with employees’ innovative behavior. The contribution of this study is to help organisations to examine their leadership styles and determine which style they more suit to belong. As a result, managers are more effective in initiating innovative actions among employees in services organizations.
