Managers’ Intention to Innovate in a Change Context: Examining the Role of Attitudes, Control and Support

Abstract

Drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior, this research investigates factors determining managers’ intention to innovate contextualized within the situation of a new management practice implementation: telework. Managers’ attitude toward telework, their attitude toward ideation and their perception of organizational support for creativity were identified as potential determinants of managers’ intentions to innovate in order to implement telework. However, according to the Theory of Planned Behavior, such effects are mediated by attitude toward innovative behaviors and perceived behavioral control. A sample of managers (N = 91) who never implemented telework completed an online questionnaire designed to assess these factors. Results from a path analysis confirmed the predictive model with the exception that attitude toward ideation had a stronger direct effect on attitude toward innovative behaviors than expected. Results are discussed in terms of their extension to the actual creation of innovative behaviors and their generalizability to decontextualized reported intentions to innovate, offering potential avenues for future research.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.