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This study investigates the process underlying the relationship between leadership and employees’ innovative workplace behavior. By combining findings from leader-member exchange (LMX) theory and from research on psychological empowerment, we propose that empowerment mediates the effects of LMX on innovative behavior. We tested the proposed process model with a structural equation model based on a time-lagged questionnaire study with a sample of 225 employees. This design allowed us to investigate the proposed effects under control of the temporal stability of innovative behavior. In partial support of the hypotheses, the model revealed a full mediation of LMX on subsequent innovation behavior via psychological empowerment. The indirect effect was significant even when controlling for the stability of innovative behavior over time.
Schermuly et al. (2013) studied this question.