The Effect of Leadership Orientations on Individual Innovative Capabilities: A Study on Textile Employees

Abstract

Purpose- While leadership is defined as the ability to gather others around a unity of purpose, is leadership innate? Or is it acquired? It is still debated whether leadership is an innate or acquired trait. However, innate characteristics can turn individuals into leaders according to environmental conditions. At the same time, individual innovation abilities are important in increasing organizational effectiveness. For this purpose, the study investigates the effects of these orientations on the innovative abilities of employees by determining their leadership orientations. In the literature review, no previous study was found to investigate the relationships between the concepts of leadership orientations of employees and the effects of leadership orientations on individual innovation abilities. For this reason, examining the relationship between the concepts and presenting the results is very important in contributing to future studies.
Design/Methodology/Approach – The research was conducted on the employees of a textile enterprise operating in Samsun. A questionnaire was used as a data collection tool, and data was collected from 217 people. The data obtained from the research were analyzed using statistical methods, and licensed SPSS 21.0 and AMOS 22.0 programs were used.
Findings- As a result of the research, it was determined that human resource leadership orientation, charismatic leadership orientation, and structural leadership orientation, which are sub-dimensions of leadership orientations, have a positive and significant effect on individual innovativeness abilities. At the same time, it was concluded that political leadership orientations do not significantly affect individual innovativeness abilities.
Discussion- According to the results obtained from the study, leadership orientations play an effective role in unlocking the potential of individuals. However, an exemplary leadership orientation must be chosen to encourage innovation.