Towards a Sustainable Model of Innovative Work Behaviors’ Enhancement: The Mediating Role of Employability
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Starting from its over-detailed abstract, the article has a number of problems, although its content seems to be quite promising and novel. First of all, your abstract is way too detailed and exceeds the regular 200-words limit. You should be able to summarize your findings briefly, without going much into the detail.
The introductory part seems to be quite confusing, since here you are already presenting the model that is to be tested. I believe you need to re-structure your introduction and show the motivation and the importance of the study. As far as I know, there is a huge stream of research on the social dimension of organizational sustainability. I can name Witt's approach on sharing a common cognitive framework as a way of creating a sustainable organization DOI:10.1016/s0167-2681(98)00058-4 and Erkut's work on creating the conditions for employees to be innovative https://doi.org/10.1177/2277977916636981 as two approaches that received attention from the scholarly community. I am not sure what we can understand from your introduction; you need to emphasize what the research gap is, how you are going to close it, and how you frame your research by doing this - these all need to be represented in such a way that you don't show your own model from point zero.
Your literature review, in comparison to your introduction, seems to be quite short and does not go much into detail, just names a few topics that are relevant by their title. I believe that you are over-emphasizing Janssen's observations, since these are just a derivative of Witt's work, as stated above. In addition, I cannot understand why you are having parts 2, 3 and 4 as separate parts for hypothesis development. I would try to show a unified framework and how hypotheses are coming out of it by emphasizing how I frame the problem.
Now, regarding your methodology, mixed methods seem to be a good choice but I would suggest to change the table 1 because its visual quality is way too poor. The same applies for the rest of the tables since the journal has its own way of formatting these tables - please kindly acknowledge that. I am not sure how you are numbering your tables, but the second "Table 1" is kind of out of scope in its dimensions, and I cannot read the whole sentences, so please make sure that it fits to the page.
I found the conclusive part to be not capturing the whole initial research question and somehow being quickly ended and underdeveloped. What are your implications for firms' cognitive frameworks?
For your practical implications, I am interested in hearing how you are evaluating nudging as a strategy to enable innovations, since you are also emphasizing SDGs at the beginning of your research - and nudges are quite often used to realize them.
Overall, I believe that your work has great potential, you just need to re-structure it and make sure it follows a certain structure. Regarding its content, I believe that the scope is narrow and it can be deepened by a) a focus on cognitive frameworks of organizations and the role of leadership in them, and b) a focus on nudging as an enabler of innovations in organizations, and how this is connecting the social dimension of sustainable organizations with innovations.
Good luck!
Author Response
Reviewer 1:
Starting from its over-detailed abstract, the article has a number of problems, although its content seems to be quite promising and novel. First of all, your abstract is way too detailed and exceeds the regular 200-words limit. You should be able to summarize your findings briefly, without going much into the detail.
Answer: Thank you very much for this positive and encouraging feedback. In response to your comment, we have deleted some details and have reduced our abstract to the regular 200-words limit:
Abstract
In this mixed methods sequential explanatory study, firstly a moderated mediation model predicting effects of Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) and Organizational Citizenship Behaviours (OCB) on innovative work behaviours, with employability as a mediator, has been tested. Multi-source data from 487 pairs of employees and supervisors working in 151 Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) supported our hypothesized model. Next to that, paired-samples comparisons indicated that all inter-method correlations (employees and immediate supervisors) of the model variables were positive, thereby supporting the validity of our measures. The results of structural equation modelling provide support for our model. In particular, the benefits of close relationships and high-quality exchanges between employee and supervisor (LMX), and fostering individual development as a result of employees’ OCB have an indirect effect on innovative work behaviours, through its positive effects on workers’ employability. In addition, we found a moderation effect of organizational politics on relationship between employability and innovative work behaviours. Secondly, qualitative methods focusing on experiences of the antecedents and outcomes of employability were used to complement our quantitative results. All in all, this study has important consequences for managerial strategies and practices in SMEs, and call for an awareness of the dysfunctional effect of perceived organizational politics.
Reviewer 1:
The introductory part seems to be quite confusing, since here you are already presenting the model that is to be tested. I believe you need to re-structure your introduction and show the motivation and the importance of the study. As far as I know, there is a huge stream of research on the social dimension of organizational sustainability. I can name Witt's approach on sharing a common cognitive framework as a way of creating a sustainable organization and Erkut's work on creating the conditions for employees to be innovative as two approaches that received attention from the scholarly community. I am not sure what we can understand from your introduction; you need to emphasize what the research gap is, how you are going to close it, and how you frame your research by doing this - these all need to be represented in such a way that you don't show your own model from point zero.
Answer: Thank you very much for this helpful feedback. In response to your comment, we have restructured the text of the ‘Introduction’ section. Moreover we added the following text based on your literature suggestions:
Notwithstanding the exemplary work by Witt [7], who, building upon social learning processes, already stressed the importance of collectively shared interpretation patterns and the importance of leadership aimed at inducing firm members to engage in creative problem-solving and to be innovative, we argue that there is more work needed in order to unravel the social dimension of organizational sustainability. Therefore, we focus on several aspects related to the social dimension that are deemed to be important in the light of enhancing innovative work behaviours in firms.
To conclude, the study that is reported in this article may make an important contribution to both the Employability and SME literature. Despite the substantial increase in literature on employability over the years, there is a lack of research into the way employability is embedded in the SME context (see also [28]). In addition, by focusing on a better understanding of the social dimension of organizational sustainability, this empirical work adds to a better understanding of how organizations can cope with the need to be innovative and deal with the challenges related to the Sustainable Development Goals. In order to do so, this study builds upon the theoretical framework of perspective-taking and has three particular objectives. Using a quantitative approach, firstly, we will identify predictor variables (LMX and OCB) that may influence innovative work behaviours directly and indirectly through employability. Secondly, we will examine whether perceived organizational politics plays a moderating role in the proposed model (see Figure 1). Thirdly, we will investigate certain appraisal effects (as a result of paired-samples comparisons, based on our multi-source data; employee and his/her supervisor) such as the halo effect, leniency and hardiness. Next to the quantitative study that has been explained above, our study aims to increase our insights in the social dimension of organizational sustainability by using a qualitative approach that focuses on obtaining a better understanding of SME employees’ and supervisors’ experiences of the antecedents and outcomes of employability building upon perspective-taking theory [11] as an underlying framework. More insight into the role of perspective-taking can guide us in formulating management practices that are aimed at stimulating valuable interactions at the workplace.
Reviewer 1:
I cannot understand why you are having parts 2, 3 and 4 as separate parts for hypothesis development. I would try to show a unified framework and how hypotheses are coming out of it by emphasizing how I frame the problem.
Answer: We would like to thank you for this beneficial feedback which has helped us a lot in increasing the readability and clarity of the manuscript. In response to your comment, we have restructured the text of this section of our manuscript, moreover, we have now integrated the parts, 2, 3 and 4 for our hypothesis’ development.
Reviewer 1:
Now, regarding your methodology, mixed methods seem to be a good choice but I would suggest to change the table 1 because its visual quality is way too poor. The same applies for the rest of the tables since the journal has its own way of formatting these tables - please kindly acknowledge that. I am not sure how you are numbering your tables, but the second "Table 1" is kind of out of scope in its dimensions, and I cannot read the whole sentences, so please make sure that it fits to the page.
Answer: Thank you for this positive and encouraging feedback. In response to the request of the editorial office, we have now provided editable tables in our revised manuscript and moreover we have used the MDPI service for figure editing to prepare our figures for publication ensuring maximum visual clarity of our research results.
Reviewer 1:
I found the conclusive part to be not capturing the whole initial research question and somehow being quickly ended and underdeveloped. What are your implications for firms' cognitive frameworks? For your practical implications, I am interested in hearing how you are evaluating nudging as a strategy to enable innovations, since you are also emphasizing SDGs at the beginning of your research - and nudges are quite often used to realize them.
Overall, I believe that your work has great potential, you just need to re-structure it and make sure it follows a certain structure. Regarding its content, I believe that the scope is narrow and it can be deepened by a) a focus on cognitive frameworks of organizations and the role of leadership in them, and b) a focus on nudging as an enabler of innovations in organizations, and how this is connecting the social dimension of sustainable organizations with innovations.
Good luck!
Answer: We would like to thank you for this constructive feedback which has helped us in increasing the readability and clarity of the manuscript. In response to your comment, we have now restructured the text of the ‘Discussion’ section. Moreover we have added the following text based on your literature suggestions:
With these outcomes, we add to the work by Witt [7], who argued that employees’ partly socially-shaped cognitive frames, as a result of sound cognitive leadership, explains their entrepreneurial behaviours. In particular, our study indicates that high-quality interactions between employees and their supervisors, and extra-role behaviours of subordinates strengthens their innovative work behaviours, both directly, and as a result of their augmented career potential (i.e., their employability). As such, this study helps to unravel the process through which leadership in SMEs can help to foster innovative behaviours.
In addition, this study contributes to earlier work on a better understanding of the social dimension in relation to organizational sustainability by disentangling the possible role of organizational politics.
Reviewer 2 Report
Review
This paper is clear in structure, complete in conception and layered.
Please read and include these current references:
Isabel González-Ramos; Mario J. Donate; Fátima Guadamillas. An empirialstudy on the link between corporate social responsibility and innovation in environmentally sensitive industries, European Journal of International Management, 2018 Vol.12 No.4, pp.402 - 422,DOI: 10.1504/EJIM.2018.092842 Rocio De La Torre; Cristina Alcaide-Muñoz; Andrea Ollo-LóA review of intellectual property management practices using qualitative comparative analysis,International Journal of Intellectual Property Management, 2019 Vol.9 No.3/4, pp.264 - 286,DOI: 10.1504/IJIPM.2019.103030 Xie, W. Xue, L. Li, A. Wang, Y. Chen, Q.Zheng, Y. Wang, X. Li,Leadership style and innovation atmosphere in enterprises: An empirical study,Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Volume 135, 2018, Pages 257-265, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2018.05.017. Rob Raven, Bob Walrave, Overcoming transformational failures through policy mixes in the dynamics of technological innovation systems, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2018, 119297, ISSN 0040-1625, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2018.05.008. Ivana Tomic, Zdravko Tesic, Bogdan Kuzmanovic & Milos Tomic (2018) An empirical study of employee loyalty, service quality, cost reduction and company performance, Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja, 31:1, 827-846, DOI: 10.1080/1331677X.2018.1456346 Suleyman M. Yildiz (2018) An empirical analysis of the leader–member exchange and employee turnover intentions mediated by mobbing: evidence from sport organisations, Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja, 31:1, 480-497, DOI: 10.1080/1331677X.2018.1432374
When doing quantitative analysis, structural equation model is used to analyze the data, SEM is a dynamic process of continuous modification. In the process of modeling, researchers need to analyze the rationality of the model through the results obtained in each modeling calculation, and then adjust the structure of the model continuously according to experience and the fitting results of the previous model, so as to finally get a most reasonable model consistent with the facts. This point is also reflected in the article. By comparing model 3 with model 4, the best model is selected. At the same time, it is reasonable to use the unconstrained models of Marsh, Wen and Hau to construct observable variables when studying the latent variable adjustment effect. So there is no problem with quantitative analysis.
When making the scale, it is necessary to avoid the implied guidance of the options on the respondents. For the innovative work behavior, this scale may make the respondents deliberately change some words, which may make the data not credible. Similar to the Hawthorne effect.
On the whole, this article is properly arranged and adopts the combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis to improve the conclusion. However, I think the innovation point of this article is not particularly obvious.
You should include other good references in the conclusions. They are:
Ángela González-Moreno; Cristina Díaz-García; Francisco José Sáez-Martí R&D team composition and product innovation: gender diversity makes a difference,European Journal of International Management, 2018 Vol.12 No.4, pp.423 - 446,DOI: 10.1504/EJIM.2018.092843
Melanie Wiener, Regina Gattringer, Franz Strehl, Collaborative open foresight - A new approach for inspiring discontinuous and sustainability-oriented innovations, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2018, 119370, ISSN 0040-1625, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2018.07.008.
Julian Marius Müller, Oana Buliga, Kai-Ingo Voigt,Fortune favors the prepared: How SMEs approach business model innovations in Industry 4.0, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Volume 132, 2018, Pages 2-17, ISSN 0040-1625, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2017.12.019.
Muzamil Naqshbandi, Ibrahim Tabche, The interplay of leadership, absorptive capacity, and organizational learning culture in open innovation: Testing a moderated mediation model, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Volume 133, 2018, Pages 156-167, ISSN 0040-1625, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2018.03.017.
Huda A. Megeirhi, Hasan Kilic, Turgay Avci, Bilal Afsar & A. Mohammed Abubakar (2018) Does team psychological capital moderate the relationship between authentic leadership and negative outcomes: an investigation in the hospitality industry, Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja, 31:1, 927-945, DOI: 1080/1331677X.2018.1442234
Author Response
Reviewer 2:
This paper is clear in structure, complete in conception and layered.
Answer: Thank you for this positive and encouraging feedback.
Reviewer 2:
When doing quantitative analysis, structural equation model is used to analyze the data, SEM is a dynamic process of continuous modification. In the process of modeling, researchers need to analyze the rationality of the model through the results obtained in each modeling calculation, and then adjust the structure of the model continuously according to experience and the fitting results of the previous model, so as to finally get a most reasonable model consistent with the facts. This point is also reflected in the article. By comparing model 3 with model 4, the best model is selected. At the same time, it is reasonable to use the unconstrained models of Marsh, Wen and Hau to construct observable variables when studying the latent variable adjustment effect. So there is no problem with quantitative analysis.
Answer: Thank you dear Reviewer for your positive comment on our quantitative analysis strategy.
Reviewer 2:
Please read and include current references.
Answer: Thank you very much for these valuable literature suggestions. We have now included certain suggestions in the ‘Introduction’, ‘Theoretical Framework’ and ‘Discussion’ sections.
In the ‘Introduction’ section:
Xie, Y.; Xue, W.; Li, L.; Wang, A.; Chen, Y.; Zheng, Q.; Wang, Y.; Li, X. Leadership style and innovation atmosphere in enterprises: An empirical study, Technol Forecast Soc Chang 2018, 135, 257-265.
In the ‘Theoretical Framework’ section:
Yildiz, S.M. An empirical analysis of the leader–member exchange and employee turnover intentions mediated by mobbing: evidence from sport organisations. Econom Res Ekonomska Istraživanja 2018, 31, 480-497.
In the ‘Discussion’ section:
Müller, J.M.; Buliga, O.; Voigt, K.I. Fortune favors the prepared: How SMEs approach business model innovations in Industry 4.0. Technol Forecast Soc Chang 2018, 132, 2-17.
Reviewer 2:
When making the scale, it is necessary to avoid the implied guidance of the options on the respondents. For the innovative work behavior, this scale may make the respondents deliberately change some words, which may make the data not credible. Similar to the Hawthorne effect.
Answer: Thank you dear Reviewer for this insightful suggestion. We have used the original scale anchors as developed by Janssen, who has thoroughly validated the scale and it appears to have good psychometric qualities. Please, let us know in case we misunderstand your point and in case you want us to follow up otherwise.
Reviewer 2:
On the whole, this article is properly arranged and adopts the combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis to improve the conclusion. However, I think the innovation point of this article is not particularly obvious.
Answer: Thank you for this positive and encouraging feedback. In the ‘Introduction’ section, we have now added the following sentences:
Using a quantitative approach, firstly, we will identify predictor variables (LMX and OCB) that may influence innovative work behaviours directly and indirectly through employability. Secondly, we will examine whether perceived organizational politics plays a moderating role in the proposed model (see Figure 1). Thirdly, we will investigate certain appraisal effects (as a result of paired-samples comparisons, based on our multi-source data; employee and his/her supervisor) such as the halo effect, leniency and hardiness. Next to the quantitative study that has been explained above, our study aims to increase our insights in the social dimension of organizational sustainability by using a qualitative approach that focuses on obtaining a better understanding of SME employees’ and supervisors’ experiences of the antecedents and outcomes of employability building upon perspective-taking theory [11] as an underlying framework. More insight into the role of perspective-taking can guide us in formulating management practices that are aimed at stimulating valuable interactions at the workplace.
Reviewer 3 Report
The organization of this paper should be revised. Particularly, I suggest that authors do not present their research model (Figure 1) soon in the Introduction section of their paper. Indeed, the first section should provide readers with important (even though not detailed) information about the main goals of the study, main contribution to literature and industry, emphasizing weaknesses of previous research and method used to carry on research. An in-depth description of the model – including hypotheses to test – should be left to the following sections of the paper (see lines 52-82).
Section 5.1: Please, provide information about the sample characteristics using a Table that collects data. Additionally, provide information about the SME industries. There are some context variables that might affect results: the type of industry/market of the SME and its age. SMEs that have been established since time generally have a more consolidated set of (implicit or explicit) rules that shape people behavior. The industry may have a similar role, because of the specific characteristics of the industry.
Section 5.2: please provide measurement scales in an appendix.
Table 1: the content of this table is not easily readable. It seems generated from a pdf file.
Author Response
Reviewer 3:
The organization of this paper should be revised. Particularly, I suggest that authors do not present their research model (Figure 1) soon in the Introduction section of their paper. Indeed, the first section should provide readers with important (even though not detailed) information about the main goals of the study, main contribution to literature and industry, emphasizing weaknesses of previous research and method used to carry on research. An in-depth description of the model – including hypotheses to test – should be left to the following sections of the paper (see lines 52-82).
Answer: We would like to thank you for this insightful feedback which has helped us in increasing the readability and clarity of the manuscript. In response to your comment, we have now restructured the text of the ‘Introduction’ section, and we have moved the specific text of the research model (Figure 1) to the end of the section.
Next to that, we have incorporated information about the main goals and the contribution of this study:
To conclude, the study that is reported in this article may make an important contribution to both the Employability and SME literature. Despite the substantial increase in literature on employability over the years, there is a lack of research into the way employability is embedded in the SME context (see also [28]). In addition, by focusing on a better understanding of the social dimension of organizational sustainability, this empirical work adds to a better understanding of how organizations can cope with the need to be innovative and deal with the challenges related to the Sustainable Development Goals. In order to do so, this study builds upon the theoretical framework of perspective-taking and has three particular objectives. Using a quantitative approach, firstly, we will identify predictor variables (LMX and OCB) that may influence innovative work behaviours directly and indirectly through employability. Secondly, we will examine whether perceived organizational politics plays a moderating role in the proposed model (see Figure 1). Thirdly, we will investigate certain appraisal effects (as a result of paired-samples comparisons, based on our multi-source data; employee and his/her supervisor) such as the halo effect, leniency and hardiness. Next to the quantitative study that has been explained above, our study aims to increase our insights in the social dimension of organizational sustainability by using a qualitative approach that focuses on obtaining a better understanding of SME employees’ and supervisors’ experiences of the antecedents and outcomes of employability building upon perspective-taking theory [11] as an underlying framework. More insight into the role of perspective-taking can guide us in formulating management practices that are aimed at stimulating valuable interactions at the workplace.
We have also added an in-depth description of our model:
We propose that relationship quality with supervisors, that is LMX, is associated with sustainable innovativeness [5,18,19]. It is also hypothesized that employees who portray extra-role behaviour, which comprises delivering more than their official roles and job descriptions prescribe [20] [also referred to as OCB [21], are more likely to behave innovatively as they invest more in the development of their skills. After all, we argue that in order to achieve a continuous flow of innovations, employees must be willing and competent to innovate [22,23]. Extant research that uses a competency approach to employability [15] supports the predictive validity of competencies in the light of innovative work behaviours [24,25].
Moreover, the hypothesized mediation model that will be studied comprises perceived organizational politics as a possible moderator. Perceived organizational politics is an important phenomenon because of its influence on work outcomes [26]. Previous literature suggests that politics interfere with normal organizational processes, and might harm innovation at both the individual and organizational levels [27]. In this contribution, we will focus on the influence of perceived organizational politics on the relationship between employability and innovative work behaviours. Figure 1 portrays all model relationships.
Reviewer 3:
Section 5.1: Please, provide information about the sample characteristics using a Table that collects data. Additionally, provide information about the SME industries. There are some context variables that might affect results: the type of industry/market of the SME and its age. SMEs that have been established since time generally have a more consolidated set of (implicit or explicit) rules that shape people behavior. The industry may have a similar role, because of the specific characteristics of the industry.
Answer: We would like to thank you very much dear Reviewer for this constructive feedback. In response to your comment, we have now added some additional information about our sample characteristics:
Respondents comprised employees and supervisors of SMEs working in the Limburg Province, the Netherlands. Using the European Union’s definition, SMEs included companies that employed fewer than 250 employees. Participants held several job types, primarily at middle and higher positions, since more complex and non-routine professions allow greater opportunities for individual innovation [76]. Purposive selection was conducted based on sampling criteria, including a geographical representation of SMEs, the SMEs’ various branches, and willingness of the company to improve the employability and the innovative work behaviours of their employees. Companies were approached through the researchers’ personal contacts in the Limburg Province and the Employers Association for SMEs in Limburg (i.e., convenience sampling has been used). The sample consisted of 487 pairs of employees and their immediate supervisors working in 151 SMEs. 18% of the pairs (employees and their supervisor) worked in micro firms, 27% worked in small businesses and 55% worked in medium-sized enterprises). For employees, 59.5% were men and 40.5% were women, and 52.4% of the employees were younger than 40 years old and 47.6% were older than or equal to 40. The mean age of the employees was 38 years (SD = 11.05), and the average length of service in the organization was 7.43 years (SD= 5.51). Nearly 82% of supervisors were men and 18.1% were women, and the mean age of the supervisors was 43 years (SD = 9.23).
This study is based on a unique sample of employees and their immediate supervisors working in SMEs. Indeed, a convenient sampling strategy has limitations, however it appears that convenience samples have been an important driver of social research for decades. According to Leiner (2014) literature reviews on social research issues regularly find the majority of studies based on convenience samples (e.g., Ryan, Wortley, Easton, Pederson, & Greenwood, 2001; Sherry, Jefferds, & Grummer-Strawn, 2007; Sparbel & Anderson, 2000).
Reviewer 3:
Section 5.2: please provide measurement scales in an appendix.
Answer: Due to copyright issues of the original articles we are not able to provide the measurement scales in an appendix. However, for the measurement scales of
Quality of supervisor-employee relationship, see Graen, G.B.; Novak, M.; Sommerkamp, P. The effect of leader-member exchange and job design on productivity and satisfaction: Testing a dual attachment model. Organ Behav Hum Perform 1982, 30, 109–131.
Organizational citizenship behaviours, see Podsakoff, P.M.; MacKenzie, S.B.; Moorman, R.H.; Fetter, R. Transformational leader behaviors and their effects on followers’ trust in leader, satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behaviors. Leadersh Q 1990, 1, 107–142.
Innovative work behaviours, see Janssen, O. Fairness perceptions as a moderator in the curvilinear relationships between job demands, and job performance and job satisfaction. Acad Manage J 2001, 44, 1039–1050.
Employability, see Van der Heijde, C.M.; Van der Heijden, B.I.J.M. A competence-based and multidimensional operationalization and measurement of employability, Hum Resour Manage 2006, 45, 449–476.
Perceptions of organizational politics, see Kacmar, M.; Carlson, C. Further validation of the perceptions of politics scale (POPS): A multiple sample investigation. J Manage 1997, 23, 627–658.
Reviewer 3:
Table 1: the content of this table is not easily readable. It seems generated from a pdf file.
Answer: Thank you for this feedback. In response to the request of the editorial office, we have now providededitable tables in our revised manuscript and moreover we have used the MDPI service for figure editing to prepare our figures for publication ensuring maximum impact of our research results.
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Your abstract is still too detailed. You should be able to summarize your findings briefly, without going much into the detail, especially into the methodological issues - think of it as an executive summary.
The introductory part still seems to be very confusing, since here you are already presenting the model that is to be tested. As I stated in my first report, you need to re-structure your introduction and show the motivation and the importance of the study. The place of your own research model is not the introduction - which you did not change - scientific research has a clear structure on that; first you introduce the topic, show the research, define the research gap and THEN you need to propose your own model. Otherwise it looks like you just proposed something without paying much attention to the literature - which is not the case.
Apart from Witt's approach on sharing a common cognitive framework as a way of creating a sustainable organization DOI:10.1016/s0167-2681(98)00058-4 Erkut's work on creating the conditions for employees to be innovative https://doi.org/10.1177/2277977916636981 is another primer that received attention from the scholarly community. I do not see any "theory" in your theroetical framework; you should either put some theoretical thoughts or rename the section as a conceptual framework.
I believe that there is a problem with your Table 1 and the numbers look like shifted. Why do you have pages that are half full such as 20-21?
Overall, I believe that not much has been improved since the first draft of the paper and you still lack a focus on SDGs and innovations.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
We are pleased to be able to send you a carefully revised manuscript with an itemized, point-by-point response to your comments regarding the article entitled ‘Toward a Sustainable Model of Innovative Work Behaviours’ Enhancement: The Mediating role of Employability’.
We would like to thank you very much for the thoughtful and constructive comments, and for the faith and persistence in this review process. We sincerely hope that we have met the requirements for change.
We will continue with a point-by-point reaction to the comments:
REVIEWERS’ COMMENTS
Reviewer 1:
Your abstract is still too detailed. You should be able to summarize your findings briefly, without going much into the detail, especially into the methodological issues - think of it as an executive summary.
Answer: Thank you very much for this helpful feedback. In response to your comment, we have deleted some details especially into the methodological issues and our abstract is now under the regular 200-words limit:
Abstract
In this mixed methods study, firstly a moderated mediation model predicting effects of Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) and Organizational Citizenship Behaviours (OCB) on innovative work behaviours, with employability as a mediator, has been tested. Multi-source data from 487 pairs of employees and supervisors working in 151 Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) supported our hypothesized model. The results of structural equation modelling provide support for our model. In particular, the benefits of close relationships and high-quality exchanges between employee and supervisor (LMX), and fostering individual development as a result of employees’ OCB have an indirect effect on innovative work behaviours, through its positive effects on workers’ employability. Innovative work behaviours depend on employees’ knowledge, skills, and expertise. In other words, enhancing workers’ employability nurtures innovative work behaviours. In addition, we found a moderation effect of organizational politics on relationship between employability and innovative work behaviours. Secondly, qualitative methods focusing on experiences of the antecedents and outcomes of employability were used to complement our quantitative results. All in all, this study has important consequences for managerial strategies and practices in SMEs, and call for an awareness of the dysfunctional effect of perceived organizational politics.
Reviewer 1:
The introductory part still seems to be very confusing, since here you are already presenting the model that is to be tested. As I stated in my first report, you need to re-structure your introduction and show the motivation and the importance of the study. The place of your own research model is not the introduction - which you did not change - scientific research has a clear structure on that; first you introduce the topic, show the research, define the research gap and THEN you need to propose your own model. Otherwise it looks like you just proposed something without paying much attention to the literature - which is not the case.
Answer: We would like to thank you for this constructive feedback which has helped us in increasing the readability and clarity of the manuscript. In response to your comment, we have restructured the text of the ‘Introduction’ section.
In the ‘Introduction’ section firstly we introduced our topic and after that we emphasized our contribution to both the Employability and SME literature. Next to that, we moved the explanation of our research model to the beginning of the ‘Conceptual Framework’ section and we moved our hypothesized research model (Figure 1) to the end of this particular section.
Reviewer 1:
Apart from Witt's approach on sharing a common cognitive framework as a way of creating a sustainable organization DOI:10.1016/s0167-2681(98)00058-4 Erkut's work on creating the conditions for employees to be innovative https://doi.org/10.1177/2277977916636981 is another primer that received attention from the scholarly community.
Answer: Thank you very much for these valuable literature suggestions. We have now included your suggestions in the ‘Introduction’ and ‘Discussion’ sections.
As part of the ‘Introduction’ section:
Notwithstanding the exemplary work by Witt [8], who, building upon social learning processes, already stressed the importance of collectively shared interpretation patterns and the importance of leadership aimed at inducing firm members to take responsibility and to engage in creative problem-solving and to be innovative, we argue that there is more work needed in order to unravel the social dimension of organizational sustainability. In a similar vein, Erkut [9], who found empirical support for the importance of interactions of employees with an organization’s customers and the feeling of self-empowerment, emphasized the need to nudge members to take responsibility for innovativeness. Therefore, we focus on several aspects related to the social dimension that are deemed to be important in the light of enhancing innovative work behaviours in firms.
As part of the ‘Discussion’ section:
With these outcomes, we add to the work by Witt [8], who argued that employees’ partly socially-shaped cognitive frames, as a result of sound cognitive leadership, and to the work by Erkut [9] who posited the importance of nudging, that is giving employees responsibility for increasing their occupational competencies, as antecedents for innovative work behaviours. Obviously the latter are of utmost important in the light of entrepreneurial success (ibid).
and
It is of utmost importance that supervisors, in close consultation with independent HR specialists, become aware of the antecedents of the growth and added value of their human capital, and how employees’ sustainable competences [104] and self-empowerment [9] can be enhanced. According to Erkut [9], self-empowerment is an important predictor of innovative behaviours and can be accomplished by nudging, defined as “any aspect of the choice architecture that alters people’s behaviour in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives” [105] (p. 6).
Reviewer 1:
I do not see any "theory" in your theoretical framework; you should either put some theoretical thoughts or rename the section as a conceptual framework.
Answer: Thank you dear Reviewer for this insightful suggestion. We renamed the section as a Conceptual Framework.
In this section, we explain the research model, the variables under study and their underlying relationships, expressed in our research hypotheses. We propose that relationship quality with supervisors, that is LMX, is associated with sustainable innovativeness [7,20,21]. It is also hypothesized that employees who portray extra-role behaviour, which comprises delivering more than their official roles and job descriptions prescribe [22] [also referred to as OCB [23], are more likely to behave innovatively as they invest more in the development of their skills. After all, we argue that in order to achieve a continuous flow of innovations, employees must be willing and competent to innovate [24,25]. Extant research that uses a competency approach to employability [17] supports the predictive validity of competencies in the light of innovative work behaviours [26,27].
Moreover, the hypothesized mediation model that will be studied comprises perceived organizational politics as a possible moderator. Perceived organizational politics is an important phenomenon because of its influence on work outcomes [28]. Previous literature suggests that politics interfere with normal organizational processes, and might harm innovation at both the individual and organizational levels [29]. In this contribution, we will focus on the influence of perceived organizational politics on the relationship between employability and innovative work behaviours.
Reviewer 1:
I believe that there is a problem with your Table 1 and the numbers look like shifted. Why do you have pages that are half full such as 20-21?
Answer: Thank you for this feedback. In response to the request of the editorial office, we have now providededitable tables in our revised manuscript and moreover we have used the MDPI service for figure editing to prepare our figures for publication ensuring maximum impact of our research results. In the uploaded manuscript we have restructured our text.
Reviewer 1:
Overall, I believe that not much has been improved since the first draft of the paper and you still lack a focus on SDGs and innovations.
Answer: We would like to thank you very much dear Reviewer for this constructive feedback. In response to your comment, we have now added some additional information about SDGs and innovations. We have now included it in the ‘Introduction’ and ‘Discussion’ sections.
As part of the ‘Introduction’ section:
Moreover, innovation is vital for organizations, especially for SMEs, to deal with challenges related to the Sustainable Development Goals, introduced by the United Nations (UN) [3], and to promote humane and productive organizations [4]. Innovative behaviours are strongly connected with sustainability [4], when employees are innovative, organizations meet the changing demands of their customers better [5] and employees’ sustainable innovative work behaviours guarantees prolonged customers’ benefits [6]. Among the three dimensions of organizational sustainability, the social dimension (i.e., related to employees and their work behaviours) has received less attention when compared to the economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability [7].
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In addition, by focusing on a better understanding of the social dimension of organizational sustainability, this empirical work adds to a better understanding of how organizations can cope with the need to be innovative and deal with the challenges related to the Sustainable Development Goals.
As part of the ‘Discussion’ section:
As financial resources in SMEs are limited, we also emphasize the importance of informal learning opportunities for employees, beyond formal ones, that allow supervisors to contribute to an optimal learning climate within SMEs. These practices will enhance employees’ growth and enrichment and, as such, contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (see also [106]).
Once again, we would like to sincerely thank you for your comments and your help in shaping the manuscript to its current stage.
Sincerely yours,
The authors,
Reviewer 2 Report
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Author Response
Thank you, dear Reviewer, for your insightful suggestions and helpful feedback which has aided us in increasing the readability and clarity of our manuscript.
We are pleased that we have met the requirements for change.
Sincerely yours,
The authors,
Round 3
Reviewer 1 Report
I believe the changes incorporated reflect the state of the art and the article can be interesting for the scientific and managerial communities
