Abstract
The rapid changes and challenges in the macro external context, leading to an emerging new world force organisations to rethink and recalibrate on a continuous basis if they want to become competitive, and in the long term sustainable (Hewitt, 2012). Organisations recurrently mark their call to explore, create and to implement new ideas in order to remain ahead of competitors, generate profits and maintain a competitive global advantage (Slatten & Mehmetoglu, 2011). This necessitates the need amongst organisations to become more innovative; to diversify their products and services; introduce new technology and to pursue new leadership practices (Scott & Bruce, 1994; Zhao, 2005).
Employees play a vital role in building an innovative workplace in terms of processes, procedures and functions. Additionally, leaders play a critical role in terms of motivating and triggering employees to accomplish a collective vision of cultivating innovative behaviour. The understanding of influential leadership behaviours and characteristics is therefore crucial in fostering successful innovative behaviour from employees within an organisation (Vroom & Jago, 2007).
The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship amongst the leadership latent variables; rewards, resources and leadership vision as encapsulated in de Jong and Den Hartog’s (2007) conceptual framework for stimulating innovation. Understanding the relationship between the latent variables rewards, resources, leadership vision and innovation, allows leadership to be in a position to partially understand what might contribute to the generation and implementation of innovative ideas, thereby increasing innovation. Consequently, leaders can use these findings as managerial tools for stimulating more innovative output and thereby cultivate an innovative culture throughout the organisation. This in turn will lead to competitive high performing organisations...
M.Phil.