Inspire but don't interfere: Managerial influence as a double-edged sword for innovation

Managers play a pivotal role in the innovation process; yet, the mechanisms through which managers enhance or undermine innovation are not well understood. Drawing upon self-concordance theory, we argue that managers can augment employees' self-concordance-defined as the congruence of goals and actions with inner values and preferences-through transformational behavior and thereby contribute to innovation. However, transformational behavior is closely coupled to another form of influence, namely, process management, the attempt to directly manage innovation-related activities. This form of managerial influence reduces employees' self-concordance and thereby undermines innovation. We test our conceptual model in a sample of 188 innovation projects using a contextualized method that asked employees to assess their self-concordance and their managers' behavior during each project. Managers evaluated for each project the innovativeness of the outcome. Multilevel path-analysis provided support for our hypotheses. We discuss future research implications to disentangle innovation-facilitating and innovation-undermining facets of managerial influence.

Automated summary

Managers can enhance innovation by fostering employees' self-concordance through transformational behavior, but their attempt to directly manage innovation-related activities may reduce self-concordance and inhibit innovation. The study highlights the importance of distinguishing between innovation-facilitating and innovation-undermining aspects of managerial influence.