Intrapreneurial personality and individual innovation behaviour in service organisations: Network building ability as a mediator

Abstract

The research investigates network building ability as a mediating mechanism of influence in the relationship between intrapreneurial personality and three stages of employees’ innovative behaviours: idea generation, promotion, and realisation. A quantitative research methodology was adopted with 410 questionnaires collected from employees in the UAE service sector and subsequently analysed using structural equation modelling. The research found a significant direct relationship between intrapreneurial personality and the idea realisation stage and no direct relationship between idea generation and idea promotion. In addition, network building ability was found to mediate these relationships, underlining the importance of building networks for intrapreneurial employees to innovate. These results across the three main stages of individuals’ innovative behaviours may enrich our teachable skills to improve individuals’ innovative behaviour.