The influence of flexible work arrangements on innovative employee behaviour in China: a perspective of person-job fit

ABSTRACT

Using the perspective of person-job fit, this study identifies the heterogeneous effects of flexible work arrangements on innovative employee behaviour. Applying polynomial regression with response surface analysis, this study analyses a sample of 315 paired executives and employees from 26 IT enterprises in China. The research finds that (1) the level of innovative employee behaviour is higher when the organizational supply for flexible work fits their needs and the organizational demand for flexible work fits their ability than when they are incorrectly fit. (2) A higher level of supply-need fit leads to a higher level of innovative employee behaviour. (3) The level of innovative employee behaviour approaches its summit when the demand-ability fit is at the moderate level.

KEYWORDS:

• Demand-ability fit
• innovative employee behaviour
• flexible work
• supply-need fit
• China

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions, and we acknowledge the sponsorship provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 71832006, No. 72172002)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Xin Qi

Xin Qi is an associate professor at the School of Business, Anhui University of Technology. His research interests include human resource management and innovation management.

Huanchen Liu

Huanchen Liu is an assistant professor at the College of Economics and Management, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. His research areas include organization management and multinational corporate management.

Xinyue Li

Xinyue Li is a researcher at the School of Business, Anhui University of Technology. Her research areas include human resource management.

Hong Liu

Hong Liu is a professor at the School of Business, Nanjing University. His research areas include human resource management and organization behaviour.