How innovation-supportive culture relates to firm innovativeness: the intervening role of institutionalized responsible leadership in economically significant Czech firms

Purpose This paper aims to examine whether innovation-supportive corporate culture is associated with firm innovativeness in economically significant Czech firms and whether institutionalized responsible leadership accounts for part of that association. Responsible leadership is conceptualized at the organizational level as a pattern of practices observable in public disclosures, including governance transparency, sustainability orientation, ethics-related policies and stakeholder-facing practices. Design/methodology/approach This study analyzes a cross-sectional sample of 74 economically significant firms headquartered in the Czech Republic. Twenty-one indicators of innovation-supportive culture, firm innovativeness and institutionalized responsible leadership were coded on five-point anchored scales using audited reports, statutory filings, governance statements, sustainability reports and official websites. The three focal constructs are operationalized as theory-driven formative composite indices. We examine their relationships using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, hierarchical regression and bias-corrected bootstrap estimates of indirect association, controlling for firm size, age and turnover. Findings Innovation-supportive culture is positively associated with both institutionalized responsible leadership and firm innovativeness. Institutionalized responsible leadership is likewise positively associated with firm innovativeness. The statistically significant indirect association is partial: institutionalized responsible leadership is linked to approximately 28% of the modeled total culture–innovativeness association, whereas the direct association remains larger. Sustainability orientation and disclosure of board composition and competencies yield the most consistent component-level indirect associations. Originality/value This study extends the responsible-leadership and innovation literatures by examining an organizational-level association model in economically significant Czech firms using systematically coded documentary data. It also clarifies how publicly documented manifestations of responsible leadership can be analytically distinguished from innovation-supportive cultural features and innovation outcomes.