Innovation management in the public sector: how leaders oversee employees’ innovative work behaviour?

The study’s goal is to undertake a multilevel analysis of the association between leadership styles—transformational and transactional—and employees’ innovative work behaviour, while taking job autonomy into account as a buffering mechanism. Data from 269 managing officers from 27 organisations in Malaysia’s public sector were analysed via hierarchical linear modelling. The findings corroborate the self-determination theory by indicating how both leadership styles have a significant impact on innovative work behaviour. Neither transactional leadership nor transformational leadership, however, significantly increased employee job autonomy. The degree of job autonomy that mediates the interaction between leadership and innovative work behaviour is minimal. The research outcomes potentially add to the body of knowledge in organisational behaviour about how the public sector stimulates innovative thinking among its employees.