Leading Innovation: How Supportive Leadership Fuels Creative Work Through Job Embeddedness

This research aims to investigate the relationship between supportive leadership (SL) and innovative work behavior (IWB), with the mediating role of job embeddedness (JE). There is an argument that workers should receive resources, support, and a friendly environment, which are facilitated by supportive leadership, that can increase the amount of creativity among workers. Limited studies have been done on the impact of supportive leadership on employee innovative work behavior. Using job embeddedness theory, we examined the impact of supportive leadership on employee innovative work behavior. In addition, we investigated job embeddedness as a mediator between supportive leadership and employee innovative work behavior. Based on a cross-sectional time horizon, the data were collected from 300 respondents, including instructors, staff, and administrators from the higher education sectors of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Regression analysis is used to test the proposed hypothesis. The results show that having a supportive leader has a good effect on innovative work actions, and job embeddedness plays a partial role in this connection. This means that when workers feel their leaders support them, they are more inclined to take part in innovative activities, although other elements might also impact this result. The study also provides both theoretical and practical insights, points out limitations of the research, and gives suggestions for future researchers.