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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Organizational Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1565307
How Transformational Leadership of Managers Affects Employee Innovative Behavior in IT Corporations
Provisionally accepted- 1SnC Management Consulting, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- 2Konkuk University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
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Organizations are constantly challenged by new technologies that have the potential to transform their business models and organizational identity, and they are working to create an environment that supports innovation. Advances in digital tools for work have transformed the way we work, which used to be geographically constrained. Transformational leadership is becoming more important, facilitating access to information and knowledge sharing among internal constituents like never before. In addition, in innovation-oriented workplaces, frequent experiences of psychological capital and thriving at work, where employees enjoy an optimal state of challenge, are factors that promote innovative behavior. Based on the conservation of resources theory and social cognitive theory, this study explores the mechanisms through which transformational leadership influences the innovative behavior of IT workers. Specifically, it examines the dual mediating roles of psychological capital and thriving at work. Drawing on data from 394 valid responses out of 458 Korean IT workers surveyed, the results indicate that transformational leadership positively affects innovative behavior, with this relationship being partially mediated by employees' psychological capital and thriving at work. These findings offer practical insights into how psychological capital and thriving at work function as critical psychological processes through which transformational leadership, within internal collaboration platforms, fosters innovative behavior among team members.
Keywords: Transformational leadership, Innovative behavior, Psychological Capital, Thriving at work, IT Company
Received: 23 Jan 2025; Accepted: 11 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 KIM and Yoon. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Dong-Yeol Yoon, Konkuk University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.