Linking LMX and schedule flexibility with employee innovative work behaviors: mediating role of employee empowerment and response to change

Purpose The paper aims to investigate the determinants of workplace innovation behavior of women employees in Pakistan. With a growing share of women's participation in the labor force in developing economies, it is crucial to understand their behavior. The authors looked into various practices that drive women's innovative behavior using social exchange theory (SET) as a theoretical framework. Design/methodology/approach This study is quantitative-based on the positivistic paradigm. Following the survey method technique, responses are collected from 317 female employees in the service industry. The authors used structural equation modeling for the data analysis. Findings The results indicate a significant impact of leader-member exchange (LMX) on employee empowerment; schedule flexibility was also a possible predictor of workplace innovation behavior through mediating roles of employee empowerment and response to change. The study findings are consistent with the prior literature and according to the developed hypothesis. Further, women's response to change partially mediates women employees' empowerment and workplace innovation behaviors. In addition, LMX significantly affects women's response to change through women employees' empowerment, leading to workplace innovation behavior. Practical implications The implication is that supervisors should be adaptable in working relationships with their women employees to bring positive workplace innovative behaviors. They create such exchanges with employees to make them feel that the organizations value them. The paper identifies the need to develop supportive supervisor-employee exchange relationships to encourage positive, innovative behavior in female employees. Originality/value This paper examines the workplace innovation behavior of women employees in Pakistani patriarchal society and a male-dominating workplace environment.