Fueling the Innovation Spark

Employee-oriented HR practices have ascertained their instrumentality in nurturing innovative work behavior (IWB) of employees via career satisfaction (CS). This study aims to investigate how employee-oriented human resource (HR) practices (salary, job enrichment, job stability, training) can influence career satisfaction that subsequently affects employees' innovative behavior. Anchoring on social exchange theory and signaling theory, the data for the study was collected from 358 employees of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) by purposive sampling. The study applied Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using SmartPLS 4 to test the proposed hypotheses. The findings of this study offer useful insights into the degree to which career satisfaction mediates the impact of employee-oriented HR practices on innovative work behavior. The results suggest a significant but moderate to weak; positive association between employee-oriented HR practices and their innovative activity. Furthermore, the research establishes the mediating impact of career satisfaction while investigating the mechanism through which employee-oriented HR practices foster innovative work behavior. The study expands the knowledge base of extant literature by illuminating the critical role of employee-oriented HR practices in driving employees’ innovative behavior at the workplace. Besides, it illuminates the mediating role of career satisfaction, accenting the necessity for companies to not only implement employee-oriented HR practices but also foster a sense of satisfaction within employees to unearth the full potential of innovative behaviors within the workforce.