The mediating effects of self-leadership on perceived entrepreneurial orientation and innovative work behavior in the banking sector

SL and its relationship with EO and IWB

Under the global conditions, traditional leadership roles undergo changes. Rather than effects of leaders on followers, SL of each individual in an organization can help to maximize the contributions of individuals to the organization. Organizations in today’s conditions expect more creativity, innovation, quick and flexible actions, collaboration, and initiation in the rapidly changing conditions of their employees. They also expect their employees to exhibit and develop their leadership abilities. In this framework, not only the managers or leaders of today’s organizations, but also employees are required to affect themselves, establish their self-management and have the ability of making decisions, and so SL proves to be quite important (Pearce 2007; Bryant and Kazan 2012; Houghton et al. 2014).

SL has a broad spectrum of theoretical origins. SL operates within the framework of self-regulation, social cognitive, motivation, self-efficacy, self-management and self-influence theories; and integrates these theories in a complete set of behavioral and cognitive strategies (Manz 1986; Houghton and Neck 2002; Neck and Houghton 2006). SL provides the enhancement of personal effectiveness through specific sets of behavioral and cognitive strategies (Houghton and Neck 2002; Neck and Houghton 2006; Andressen et al. 2012).

According to Manz (1986), SL is ‘a comprehensive self-influence perspective that concerns leading oneself toward performance of naturally motivating tasks as well as managing oneself to do work that must be done but is not naturally motivating’ (p. 589). SL is defined as a set of strategies that address what is to be done (e.g., standards and objectives) and why (e.g., strategic analysis) as well as how it is to be done (Manz 1991). SL strategies may be divided into three general categories: behavior-focused strategies, natural reward strategies and constructive thought pattern strategies (Houghton and Neck 2002; Neck and Houghton 2006).

Behavior-focused strategies encompass the processes in which individuals affect themselves and direct their own behaviors through SL in order to be encouraged in enjoyable behaviors and to manage their necessary tasks when exposed to unpleasant behaviors (Bligh et al. 2006). The behavior-focused strategies include self-observation, self-goal setting, self-reward, self-punishment and self-cueing. Self-observation helps to gather systematic information regarding individuals’ behaviors, thoughts or emotions and to follow self-development. Self-observation also detects behaviors desired to be increased or reduced and to improve self-awareness about the reasons of those behaviors. Therefore, individuals can efficiently manage or evaluate themselves and take actions to remove or change negative behaviors (Manz 1980). Self-goal setting includes the capability of setting goals for the things that individuals wish to succeed in the future, for themselves and for their performance. The ability to set goals plays a prominent role for individuals in determining their priorities or their own way, developing motivation, self-leading and fulfilling their responsibilities. Self-reward is related to individual reward with the things pleasant to the individual. Self-reward provides individuals with motivation to reach the desired behaviors and goals or to successfully fulfill a task (Bryant and Kazan 2012). Self-punishment pertains to individuals’ own evaluation and correction of themselves. Self-punishment includes self-criticism, self-evaluation or self-punishment in order to correct himself/herself in the situations of weak or bad performance, inefficacy and failure during a task. As opposed to self-reward, self-punishment aims to remove the undesired behaviors of individuals (Manz 1980, 1986; Neck and Houghton 2006). Self-cueing contains the role models taken as examples and objects determined by individuals in the course of realizing goals or fulfilling necessities. Thereby, self-cueing can be considered as stimulants, and it helps individuals to focus their attention on the tasks (Manz 1991; Neck and Houghton 2006; Bryant and Kazan 2012). Accordingly, behavior-focused SL strategies are deployed to reduce or remove behaviors that can cause failure or unwanted situations and to encourage desired behaviors that can bring about successful consequences (Bligh et al. 2006).

Natural reward strategies are based on the approach that highlights the positive aspects of a task to be done. Natural reward strategies bring along an internal motivation increase, especially when individuals deal with various problems. Individuals try to tackle the problems by creating motivating situations instead of ignoring those problems while using this strategy (Houghton and Neck 2002; Amundsen and Martinsen 2015). In natural reward strategies, there are two approaches helping to increase the efficacy of SL: the first of those approaches is about the acts of an individual such as making the task or work environment more enjoyable or as focusing on the pleasant aspects of his/her job. The second approach in natural reward, is about ‘shaping perceptions by focusing attention away from the unpleasant aspects of a task and refocusing it on the task’s inherently rewarding aspects’ (Neck and Houghton 2006, p. 272).To summarize, natural reward strategies can affect individual’s eagerness and competence to work positively and can help to enhance his/her motivation up to high levels.

Constructive thought pattern strategies involve the development of new thoughts or thought-patterns and make a habit out of them which would influence individual’s performance positively (Anderson and Prussia 1997; Houghton and Neck 2002; Neck and Houghton 2006). Constructive thought pattern strategies include visualizing successful performance, self-talk and evaluating beliefs and assumptions. Visualizing successful performance is the cognitive imagination in the mind of the individual before facing the situation. Visualizing successful performance increases the possibility of fulfilling the task effectively due to the mental rehearsal prior to the task (Houghton and Neck 2002). Self-talk is defined as the quiet talk of the individual with him/herself or as the internal talk, and it involves mental self-evaluations and reactions (Houghton and Neck 2002; Neck and Houghton 2006). Evaluating beliefs and assumptions include the evaluation of habits, thinking methods or models that are developed by individuals. According to Ho and Nesbit (2009), evaluating beliefs and assumptions concerns ‘examining one’s thoughts, especially self-defeating thoughts that detract from successful task performance’ (p. 454). Evaluating beliefs and assumptions aims to help one to eliminate undesirable and dysfunctional habits (Houghton and Neck 2002; Ho and Nesbit 2009). Consequently, it is made possible by constructive thought pattern strategies that individuals use their experiences and/or thoughts positively and develop the desired behaviors (Houghton and Neck 2002; D’Intino et al. 2007). And so, SL strategies improve individual effectiveness in the organizations (DiLiello and Houghton 2006).

The extant literature concerning SL includes much that displays a high-level description of behaviors or characteristics, and possible outcomes; however, little is known about the forces behind these behaviors and/or characteristics in a work setting. Renn and Huning (2008 as cited in ?ahin 2011) contended that SL skills may be dependent upon how the individuals perceive their work environment. As indicated previously, individuals’ perceptions of their work environment is conceptualized as psychological climate (Parker et al. 2003). From this perspective, Renn and Huning (2008) as cited in ?ahin (2011) examined how psychological climate can explain “the essential features believed to influence the quality of SL” in the workplace (p. 4). Employees’ perceptions regarding the work environment may have a significant impact on employees’ work attitudes and behaviors (Parker et al. 2003; ?ahin 2011) and how employees lead themselves effectively in the workplace (Renn and Huning 2008). According to Renn and Huning (2008 as cited in ?ahin 2011) psychological climate for SL defined as “perceptions of the events, practices, procedures, and behaviors that management rewards, supports, and expects with respect to SL” (p.5). Drawing on psychological climate theory, it is suggested that perceived EO sends an implicit message to employees regarding the overall perceptions of organizational support for innovation, openness to change, acting proactively and risk taking, which in turn would provide freedom, independence, autonomy or more active role for employees to make decisions or participate in decision making, as well as reduce bureaucracy to act quickly and transmit greater confidence and self-esteem in the workplace (Roberts and Foti 1998; Yun et al. 2006). When employees perceive such a work environment that encompasses organizational attributes such as openness to change, autonomy and support for risk taking, they can learn how to set their own goals, how to influence themselves and how to take autonomous action, as well as how to lead themselves (Norris 2008; Kalyar 2011; Eliason 2013). Additionally, in the organizations where SL is supported, every employee proves efficiency in sorting out problems that are related to both themselves and the organization, as well as taking responsibilities for their work and themselves (Pearce and Manz 2005; Bryant and Kazan 2012; Eliason 2013). In this respect, it is assumed herein that SL skills can be thought of as being influenced by perceived EO. However, the lack of research in the relationship between perceived EO and SL confines understanding of exactly how perceived EO is affecting SL. Based on these arguments, the following hypothesis is postulated:

Hypothesis 2: Perceived EO is positively related to SL.

Based on the intensive literature search, the common theme in improving effective leadership is starting with knowing and managing oneself (Bennis 1994; Drucker 1999; Yukl 2001; Boyatzis and McKee 2013). In this context, SL is increasingly gaining importance. This is because SL is a process of self-influence to achieve an optimum state of motivation, as well as self-discovery, self-regulation and self-direction that give strength, purpose, meaning and direction to the effort toward effectiveness during task performance (Manz 1986; Neck and Manz 1992; Manz and Sims 2001; Stewart et al. 2011). According to Manz (1986) and Unsworth and Mason (2012), the combination of SL strategies is likely to improve performance above and beyond the individual strategies alone, as well as helps individuals to maximize personal and professional strengths and minimize personal and professional weaknesses. Furthermore, SL literature has suggested a number of predictable outcomes, which may serve as the mechanisms that affect individual, group and organizational effectiveness and performance (Neck and Houghton 2006; DiLiello and Houghton 2006). Several scholars suggest that SL skills are essential to organizations that need continuous innovation (Pearce and Manz 2005; DiLiello and Houghton 2006; Neck and Houghton 2006). Because of the changing nature of work, employees at all levels of the organization should participate in innovation activities and demonstrate higher levels of self-confidence about performing these activities (Thatcher and Perrewe 2002; Ong et al. 2003; Wu et al. 2014). SL skills provide employees with a general combination of behavior-focused, natural reward and constructive thought pattern strategies that employees can learn and implement in a wide range of environments, thus giving them psychological resources and self-confidence that strengthens their positive affect resources, which in turn positively influences their subsequent outcomes (Neck and Houghton 2006; Carmeli et al. 2006; Gomes et al. 2015a). Within this context, employees need to be able to lead themselves to behave innovatively in the workplace (Carmeli et al. 2006; Pratoom and Savatsomboon 2012; Gomes et al. 2015a, b). Few studies examined how the combination of SL skills influence IWB (e.g., Carmeli et al. 2006; Curral and Marques-Quinteiro 2009; Kalyar 2011; Pratoom and Savatsomboon 2012; Gomes et al. 2015a). Within these studies, all but Pratoom and Savatsomboon (2012) support the hypothesis that the combination of SL skills directly affect IWB. Therefore, research in this area is still in nascent stage (Carmeli et al. 2006; Pratoom and Savatsomboon 2012; Gomes et al. 2015b). Building on SL theory, which conceptualizes the combination of SL skills as a determinant of the innovative behavior, and empirical findings (Carmeli et al. 2006; Curral and Marques-Quinteiro 2009; Kalyar 2011; Gomes et al. 2015a), the following hypothesis is formulated:

Hypothesis 3: SL is positively related to IWB.