Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Humanities, Psychology and Social Sciences
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Transformational Leadership and Followers’ Intrapreneurship: The Moderating Role of Followers’ Personality
Bogdan Oprea
ABSTRACT:
Intrapreneurship refers to organizational venture creation and the strategic renewal generated by employees within the company they work for. It is a competitive advantage for modern organizations, which must adapt to both external changes (i.e., globalization, fast technological evolution, unstable markets, new competitors) and internal changes (i.e., modernization of bureaucracy and processes, adoption of new technologies, mobility of human resources). Previous literature reviews suggested that future studies should explore the interaction between individual level factors (e.g., personality) and organizational level factors (e.g., middle-level managers’ leadership style) in predicting intrapreneurial behavior. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the moderating role of personality in the relationship between transformational leadership and subordinates’ intrapreneurship. A sample of 492 employees completed the study questionnaire. The proposed relationships were tested using PROCESS macro for SPSS. Transformational leadership was positively related with followers’ intrapreneurship. Followers’ emotional stability and openness to experience moderated the relationship between transformational leadership and followers’ intrapreneurship. Transformational leadership was positively associated with followers’ intrapreneurship only when followers were high on emotional stability (resilience, calmness, and adaptability in the face of stressors). The relationship between transformational leadership and followers’ intrapreneurship was significant only for followers low on openness (receptiveness to novel ideas, aesthetic appreciation, intellectual curiosity, and willingness to engage in unconventional or imaginative thinking). Managers can adopt a transformational leadership style in order to stimulate subordinates’ intrapreneurial behaviors, especially with employees high on emotional stability and low on openness.
keywords: Big Five, Intrapreneurship, Moderation, Personality, Transformational Leadership