This doesn’t make sense! Does illegitimate tasks affect innovative behaviour?

Shaker Bani-Melhem, Rawan Mazen Abukhait and Faridahwati Mohd Shamsudin

The Service Industries Journal, 2025, vol. 45, issue 1, 105-131

Abstract: Illegitimate tasks in the workplace are known to associate with several attitudinal and behavioural outcomes for employees, including their well-being, motivation, and turnover intention. However, why and when these adverse impacts influence employees’ innovative behaviours have not yet been examined. The current study thus empirically investigates the impact of illegitimate tasks on the innovative behaviours of employees. It also examines the mediating role of work meaninglessness and the moderating impact of passive leadership in these relationships. The research analyses a sample of 145 employee-supervisor dyads in several public sector organisations in Dubai. The results demonstrate that illegitimate tasks indirectly (via work meaninglessness) and negatively influence innovative behaviours. This influence is strengthened when the supervisor/leader is passive. Our results provide more insight into the potential negative influence of illegitimate tasks on innovative behaviours through perceived work meaninglessness and the exacerbating impact of passive leadership on these relationships.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/02642069.2022.2163994 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:servic:v:45:y:2025:i:1:p:105-131

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/FSIJ20

DOI: 10.1080/02642069.2022.2163994

Access Statistics for this article

The Service Industries Journal is currently edited by Eileen Bridges, Professor Domingo Ribeiro, Ronald Goldsmith, Barry Howcroft and Youjae Yi

More articles in The Service Industries Journal from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().