Participatory decision-making, job satisfaction and employees’ innovative work behavior among small retail stores

The literature is bereft of the connection between participatory decision-making (PDM) and employees’ innovative work behavior (EIWB) through intermediary variables (job satisfaction- JS, organizational citizenship behavior-OCB and employees’ competencies-EC). To fill this lacuna, this study aims to examine the effects of PDM on innovative behavior of workers of small retail stores in Kumasi, Ghana. It is also to analyze the mediating role of JB and the moderating roles of both OCB and EC between PDM and EIWB. Based on the social exchange theory (SET), a sample of 723 workers of small retail stores are used for the study. The Partial Least Squares (PLS) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) are also adopted to test eight hypotheses. It is found that PDM has a positive link with JB and EIWB. PDM has an indirect connection with EIWB through JB. Also the association between PDM and EIWB is also strengthened by CC and weakened by OCB. Again, EIWB is positively influenced by JB, OCB and CC. The contribution of this study is that it highlights the relationships among the five variables entailed in the model and therefore confirms SET in the retail industry in Ghana. The findings throw light on how policymakers and practitioners can improve EIWB in the retail industry.