Organizational climate for initiative and innovative work behavior: a moderated mediation model

Purpose: This paper aimed at investigating the relationship between organizational climate for initiative, job autonomy, climate for innovation and innovative work behavior (IWB) in a developing economy context. Design/methodology/approach: The study surveyed 444 manufacturing businesses in Morocco, collecting data from three sources: CEOs, middle managers and non-managerial employees in the production department. The data were analyzed using structural equation modelling, the Bayesian estimation approach and the bootstrapped moderated mediation technique. Findings: This study revealed that middle managers’ job autonomy mediates the positive link between climate for initiative and middle managers’ IWB when climate for innovation is strong. Practical implications: This study provides practical information for organizations intending to make their middle managers willing to be innovative in their job by granting them job autonomy and building favorable climates for initiative and innovation. Originality/value: This research expands the human resource management and innovation literature by examining features of the work context (i.e. climates for initiative and for innovation, and job autonomy) as previous research has mainly focused on the context approach to work design (i.e. social environment of work design). The study highlights the role of middle managers as essential contributors to fostering innovations within their firms.