Acceso usuarios
Gerhard Messmann, Regina H. Mulder
The aim of this study was to investigate how employees� innovative work behaviour is determined by the level of target specificity of innovation tasks, which refers to the concreteness of a task regarding the realization of an innovation. This issue was addressed in a study with 239 vocational teachers. The study investigated the assumption that employees have different task-related needs depending on whether they engage in innovation tasks with low or high target specificity. That is, with increasing target specificity, innovation-specific resources, such as perceived social support, become more important compared with general, work-related resources such as perceived impact. In addition, the study aimed to show that intrinsic motivation for innovation is a crucial requirement at all levels of target specificity. By applying structural equation and path modelling, we found that (1) the engagement in innovation tasks with low target specificity (i.e., opportunity exploration) depended on perceived impact, (2) the engagement in innovation tasks with high target specificity (i.e., idea generation, idea promotion, and reflection) was facilitated by perceived social support, and (3) intrinsic task motivation enhanced the engagement in innovation tasks at all levels of target specificity and mediated the effects of perceived impact and perceived social support.
