Decentralization and Innovative Behavior: The Moderating Role of Supervisor Support

The importance of innovative behavior for organizational effectiveness has been wildly accepted. Spite of the importance of organizational structure to promote the innovative behavior, little is known regarding the decentralized system in service industry. In addition, the role of supervisor support in such circumstances is highly significant; however, the link between decentralization, supervisory support and innovation is not particularly clear. Therefore, the current study aims to examine the impact of decentralization on employees’ innovative behavior and also to investigate the moderating role of supervisor support in this process. Data was collected from 323 employees from five star hotels in North Cyprus. Structural equation modelling was applied to evaluate the measurements and model’s fit. The study hypotheses were tested using LISREL 8.54. The results revealed that decentralized system has a positive impact on employees’ innovative behavior. Moreover, moderating role of supervisory support in helping employees to achieve organizational innovative goals was significant. The existence of decentralization opens new opportunities for organizations and increases the innovative behavior among employees. Employees who have degree of freedom for decision-making and risk-taking within an organization are more creative, and will take the initiative to seek new and efficient ways and approaches of doing their jobs.