Influence of supportive leadership style on the innovative behavior of senior managers in the manufacturing sector in Kenya
Keywords:
innovative behavior, manufacturing sector in Kenya, supportive leadershipAbstract
This study sought to determine the influence of supportive leadership style on the innovative behavior
of senior managers in the manufacturing sector in Kenya. Positivism research philosophy and
descriptive correlational research design were used. The target population comprised of 802 senior
managers in manufacturing firms in Kenya. Stratified random sampling method was used to determine
a sample size of 267 senior managers from the total population. The ordinal logistic regression
(Nagelkerke Pseudo R-square) results revealed that supportive leadership style explained 6.6% of the
variance in innovative behavior (R2 = .066). Goodness-of-fit results showed that the observed data was
consistent with the fitted model, [X2 (28, N = 228) = .564, p=1.00, p>.05]. Results of the parameter
estimates revealed that supportive leadership style positively and significantly predicted innovative
behavior (β =.611, p=.000, p<.05). Based on these results, the null hypothesis that supportive
leadership style does not significantly influence the innovative behavior of senior managers was
rejected. This study concludes that supportive leadership style significantly influenced the innovative
behavior of senior managers in the manufacturing sector in Kenya. The findings of this study will
provide a better understanding and new knowledge to the players in the manufacturing sector on the
influence of supportive leadership style on the innovative behavior of senior managers, to improve their
performance and competitiveness. The study recommends that further research should be conducted on
the influence of supportive leadership on innovative behavior in the small-scale manufacturing
organizations in Kenya
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