The Drivers of Employees’ Active Innovative Behaviour in Chinese High-Tech Enterprises

Chuanhao Fan, Mingyue Hu, Ziheng Shangguan, Chunlan Ye, Shuting Yan and Mark Yaolin Wang
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Chuanhao Fan: School of Business, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, China
Mingyue Hu: School of Business, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, China
Ziheng Shangguan: School of Public Administration, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, China
Chunlan Ye: School of Business, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, China
Shuting Yan: Lide Group Co. Ltd., Nanjing 211100, China
Mark Yaolin Wang: School of Geography, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne 3010, Australia

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 11, 1-19

Abstract: High-performance work systems are being increasingly used in organisational management. However, such system development over time has resulted in increasingly complex impacts on employee innovation behaviour. How to stimulate innovation in the technological talent pool of individuals at high-tech enterprises has gradually become a research hotspot. Based on an effective sample of 351 technological individuals from high-tech enterprises in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces, this paper discusses the mechanism and boundary conditions of a high-performance work system affecting the active innovation behaviour of such individuals based on self-determination theory. The empirical results show the following: (1) Informational practices and controlled practices in a high-performance work system have mutually exclusive effects on active innovation behaviour, with significant positive and negative effects. (2) The need for autonomy and competence play mediating roles between informational practices and active innovation behaviour; the need for autonomy plays a masking effect between controlled practices and active innovation behaviour. (3) The need for relatedness negatively moderates the effects of a high-performance work system which is focused on the needs for autonomy and competence. The findings reveal the internal mechanism and boundary conditions of high-performance work system influencing active innovation behaviour, which provides a reference for high-tech enterprises to encourage technical talents to innovate, and have important practical significance for improving the core competitiveness of high-tech enterprises.

Keywords: active innovation behaviour; high-performance work system; self-determination theory; technological talent pool; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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