Abstract

When reviewing this article, consider the traits a destructive leader exhibits to stifle innovation in organizations. Have you ever experienced a destructive leader? How can you avoid being a destructive leader in your workplace?

Leadership is an essential element for promoting innovation. The literature has primarily focused on the effect of "constructive" leadership on innovation, although numerous studies point out that destructive leadership affects organizational performance. However, such literature pays little attention to the relationship between destructive leadership and innovation. This study uses an online survey of 210 employees from 80 Portuguese firms in different sectors, to test the effect of destructive leadership on behavioural innovation and how a caring climate influences such relationship. The analysis uses multiple linear regressions to test the hypotheses. Findings reveal that destructive leadership has a negative effect on innovation and on caring climate. The results show that a caring climate influences innovation in a positive way that mitigates the relationship between destructive leadership and innovation.

Keywords: leadership; organisational innovation; behavioural innovation, organisational climate; caring climate; mitigation effects

Source: Paulo Lopes Henriques, Carla Curado, Helena Mateus Jerónimo, and Joana Martins, https://scielo.conicyt.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0718-27242019000100018
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License.

© Saylor University 2010-2026 except as otherwise noted. Excluding course final exams, content authored by Saylor University is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. Third-party materials are the copyright of their respective owners and shared under various licenses. See detailed licensing information. Saylor University®, Saylor.org®, and Harnessing Technology to Make Education Free® are trade names of the Constitution Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization through which our educational activities are conducted.