SME innovation and employee creativity: The role of entrepreneurial leadership

  • Received October 18, 2022;
    Accepted December 13, 2022;
    Published December 26, 2022
  • Author(s)
  • DOI
    http://dx.doi.org/10.21511/ppm.20(4).2022.42
  • Article Info
    Volume 20 2022, Issue #4, pp. 560-572
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Entrepreneurial leadership and innovation are needed for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to survive and grow. Entrepreneurial leaders must unlock and use their employees’ creativity to innovate. Moreover, they should foster creativity, risk-taking, and teamwork to secure business growth and success. Therefore, this study analyzes the link between entrepreneurial leadership, creativity, and innovation among SMEs. The aim is to identify the traits that lead to entrepreneurial leadership which helps in fostering creativity and innovation among SMEs in Saudi Arabia.
The study is based on primary data from employees, managers, and owners of SMEs in the capital region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Two hundred and eighty-one responses were collected. However, only two hundred and forty-eight responses were left for the final analysis. The results of the study indicate that entrepreneurial leadership positively influences organizational innovation and employee creativity among SMEs, where the coefficient was found to be significant. Next, no mediation relationships involving creativity were noted between entrepreneurial leadership and organizational innovation. However, entrepreneurial leadership has been identified as a critical driver of innovation and employee creativity in SMEs. Furthermore, the study suggests that SMEs need to foster a culture of innovation to unleash employee creativity. Finally, the study can have important implications for practitioners and academic scholars.

Acknowledgment
This project was supported by the Deanship of Scientific Research at Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University under the research project (PSAU-2022/01/20421).

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    • Figure 1. Proposed hypothesized model
    • Figure 2. Final structural model
    • Table 1. Construct reliability and validity
    • Table 2. Discriminant validity (Fornell-Larcker criterion)
    • Table 3. Discriminant validity (heterotrait-monotrait ratio)
    • Table 4. Mediation analysis
    • Table A1. Questionnaire
    • Conceptualization
      Mohammad Naushad
    • Data curation
      Mohammad Naushad
    • Formal Analysis
      Mohammad Naushad
    • Funding acquisition
      Mohammad Naushad
    • Investigation
      Mohammad Naushad
    • Methodology
      Mohammad Naushad
    • Project administration
      Mohammad Naushad
    • Resources
      Mohammad Naushad
    • Software
      Mohammad Naushad
    • Supervision
      Mohammad Naushad
    • Validation
      Mohammad Naushad
    • Visualization
      Mohammad Naushad
    • Writing – original draft
      Mohammad Naushad
    • Writing – review & editing
      Mohammad Naushad