ANTECEDENTS OF INDIVIDUAL INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOR:

EXAMINING TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP, CREATIVE CLIMATE, ROLE

AMBIGUITY, RISK PROPENSITY, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL EMPOWERMENT

Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the

California School of Professional Psychology

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Alliant International University

Los Angeles
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In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy in Industrial-Organizational Psychology

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by

Jessica T. Craig, M.A., M.S.

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Approved by:

Patricia Denise Lopez, Ph.D., Chairperson

Nurcan Ensari, Ph.D.

Maya D. Imberman, Ph.D.

 UMI Number: 3702908

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ANTECEDENTS OF INDIVIDUAL INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOR ii

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© Jessica T. Craig, 2015

ANTECEDENTS OF INDIVIDUAL INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOR iii

Dedication

To my mom, who gave me the courage to go after my dreams. And to my dad, who gave

me the stubbornness to accomplish them.

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ANTECEDENTS OF INDIVIDUAL INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOR iv

Acknowledgments

I would like to acknowledge the individuals who have been instrumental in the

completion of this dissertation. First and foremost, my deepest gratitude goes to my dissertation

committee whose invaluable insights made this dissertation what it is today, and whose belief in

me led me to achieve more than I believed possible. Dr. Denise Lopez, thank you for your

dedication and guidance; this would not have been possible without you, and I will be forever

grateful for all your help. Dr. Nurcan Ensari, thank you for high expectations and your

encouragement; you made this dissertation better and you made me better as well. Dr. Maya

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Imberman, thank you for your attention to detail, expertise, and motivation; your support and

commitment continuously inspire me. IE

Thank you to my family for your understanding and support of not just this endeavor but

all my endeavors. Mom, you are my foundation and inspiration for everything. I am who I am
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because you are who you are; ILYBUTH. Dad, you are forever present in everything I do; you

are my driving force in life. Keir, thank you for being the one we can all count on. Knowing you
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can handle anything has given me peace of mind; thank you. To my aunts, Christine and Carol,

thank you for the love, support, and honesty you provide for our family. I am a product of your

influence and for that I am very fortunate. To my uncle Joe, thank you for loving me, believing

in me, and always looking out for me. To my brother and cousins—Jordan, Eden, and Aaron—

thank you for the strength you have given me and for the bond the four of us share that I cherish

so much. To my uncle Dean, aunt Darci, and cousin Devin, thank you for your love and

continuous support. I am so blessed to call you all my family.

I am so very grateful for my understanding and loving friends. Thank you for believing in

me and supporting me through this journey. You have encouraged and motivated me, and I
ANTECEDENTS OF INDIVIDUAL INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOR v

appreciate you all so very much. I am also so grateful for the kind, brilliant, lifelong friends I

have made in this program. You have kept me sane and laughing, even when I wanted to scream

or cry (which I often did—but it was minimized by your presence in my life), so thank you. I

especially want to thank Elena Gutierrez, the only other person in my cohort, and I would not

have it any other way. Without a doubt, I would have not made it without you. Our stories in and

out of grad school could fill a book; thank you for your friendship and the memories. I also

would like to thank Nasseem Nilipour especially; you are the inspiration of many, and I am

lucky to call you my friend. You have enriched not only this dissertation but also my life; thank

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you. Last but not least, I would like to acknowledge Christopher Doran. Your patience, support,

and love have proven to be everything I needed to succeed. Thank you.

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ANTECEDENTS OF INDIVIDUAL INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOR vi

Abstract

Innovation is important to all organizational leaders that want to thrive in the business world. In

order to increase innovation, leaders need to look no further than their own employees.

Individuals create innovation, so fostering employees’ individual innovative behaviors is prudent

for organizations looking to increase innovation outcomes. In order to uncover ways to foster

individual innovative behavior, this study examined pragmatic predictors within a holistic model

that included organization-level, leader-level, and individual-level factors. Transformational

leadership (a leader-level factor) was hypothesized to have a positive relationship with individual

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innovative behavior, such that the more individuals perceive higher levels of transformational

leadership, the more individual innovative behavior they would exhibit. Creative climate (an
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organization-level factor), role ambiguity (a leader-level factor), and risk propensity (an

individual-level factor) were hypothesized to moderate the relationship between transformational

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leadership and individual innovative behavior, such that the positive relationship would be

strengthened under conditions of high creative climate and risk propensity and weakened under
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conditions of high role ambiguity. Lastly, psychological empowerment (an individual-level

factor) was hypothesized to mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and

individual innovative behavior.

Data were collected from 275 employees in a Fortune 100 company in the United States.

Participation was voluntary and participants were recruited via email from the business leaders

of three different business units within the company. The email included a survey link and

encouragement to invite other coworkers to take the survey, which led to a convenience

sampling of four different groups: Operations, Technology, Human Resources, and Other.

Results of multiple regression indicated that transformational leadership had a positive

ANTECEDENTS OF INDIVIDUAL INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOR vii

relationship with individual innovative behavior; role ambiguity moderated this relationship,

while psychological empowerment mediated this relationship. Implications of the results are

discussed, such as the role leadership plays in innovation and ways that leaders can demonstrate,

foster, and encourage innovative behavior while also reducing role ambiguity among employees.

The importance of increasing psychological empowerment in order for employees to feel

competent and capable enough to engage in innovative behavior is also highlighted. Finally, the

strengths and limitations of the study, as well as recommendations for future research, are

presented.

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ANTECEDENTS OF INDIVIDUAL INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOR viii

Table of Contents

Dedication iii

Acknowledgments iv

Abstract vi

List of Tables xii

List of Figures xiii

CHAPTER I. Introduction 1

Background 5

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Statement of Problem 12

Purpose IE 13

Significance 13

Summary 14
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Definitions 15

CHAPTER II. Literature Review 17

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Innovation 18

Innovative Behavior 20

Theories of Innovation 21

Transformational Leadership 26

Transformational leadership and innovative behavior 29

Creative Climate 34

Creative climate and individual innovative behavior 36

Creative climate, transformational leadership, and innovative behavior 37

Role Ambiguity 41
ANTECEDENTS OF INDIVIDUAL INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOR ix

Role ambiguity and individual innovative behavior 42

Role ambiguity, transformational leadership, and innovative behaviors 43

Risk Propensity 44

Risk propensity and individual innovative behavior 47

Risk propensity, transformational leadership, and innovative behaviors 48

Psychological Empowerment 50

Psychological empowerment and innovative behavior 51

Psychological empowerment, transformational leadership, and innovative

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behavior 52

Summary of Chapter II IE 54

Hypotheses 55

CHAPTER III. Methodology 58

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Participants 58

Procedure 58
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Measures 61

Dependent variable: Individual innovative behavior 61

Independent variable: Transformational leadership 62

Moderators 63

Creative climate 63

Role ambiguity 64

Risk propensity 65

Mediator: Psychological empowerment 66

Demographics 67
ANTECEDENTS OF INDIVIDUAL INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOR x

Data Analysis 67

CHAPTER IV. Results 70

Characteristics of the Sample 70

Tests of Normality and Assumptions 71

Reliability Analysis 74

Correlations 74

Hypotheses Testing 75

Hypothesis 1 75

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Hypothesis 2 76

Hypothesis 3 IE 77

Hypothesis 4 79

Hypothesis 5 81
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Post-hoc Analysis 82

CHAPTER V. Discussion 84
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Interpretation of the Results 84

Transformational leadership and individual innovative behavior 84

Creative climate and individual innovative behavior 86

Role ambiguity and individual innovative behavior 90

Risk propensity and individual innovative behavior 92

Psychological empowerment and individual innovative behavior 93

Implications of the Results 94

Transformational leadership 84

Creative climate 95
ANTECEDENTS OF INDIVIDUAL INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOR xi

Role ambiguity 96

Risk propensity 97

Psychological empowerment 98

Summary of Implications 99

Strengths, Limitations, and Future Research 101

Conclusion 103

References 104

APPENDIX A. Email Invitation 137

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APPENDIX B. Informed Consent Form 139

APPENDIX C. Individual Innovative Behavior IE 141

APPENDIX D. Permission for Use of Individual Innovative Behavior 145

APPENDIX E. Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire 147

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APPENDIX F. Permission for Use of Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire 149

APPENDIX G. Situational Outlook Questionnaire 151

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APPENDIX H. Permission for Use of Situational Outlook Questionnaire 154

APPENDIX I. Role Ambiguity Scale 156

APPENDIX J. Permission for Use of Role Ambiguity Scale 159

APPENDIX K. General Risk Propensity 161

APPENDIX L. Permission for Use of General Risk Propensity 164

APPENDIX M. Perception of Empowerment Instrument 166

APPENDIX N. Permission for Use of Perception of Empowerment Instrument 174

APPENDIX O. Demographic Questions 176

ANTECEDENTS OF INDIVIDUAL INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOR xii

List of Tables

Table 1. Ekvall’s Creative Climate Dimensions with Descriptions and Implications 34

Table 2. Characteristics of the Sample 71

Table 3. Descriptive Statistics of Measures 72

Table 4. Tests of Normality 73

Table 5. Test of Multicollinearity 73

Table 6. Reliability Analysis of Measures 74

Table 7. Correlation of Measures 75

Table 8. Results of Multiple Regression Models for Hypotheses 1 through 4 80

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Table 9. Transformational Leadership Interventions 95

Table 10. Role Clarity Interventions

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Table 11. Risk Propensity Interventions 98

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Table 12. Psychological Empowerment Interventions 99
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ANTECEDENTS OF INDIVIDUAL INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOR xiii

List of Figures

Figure 1. Hypothesis 1 55

Figure 2. Hypothesis 2 55

Figure 3. Hypothesis 3 56

Figure 4. Hypothesis 4 56

Figure 5. Hypothesis 5 57

Figure 6. The interaction between transformation leadership and individual innovative behavior
scores looking at high and low role ambiguity 79

Figure 7. Hypothesis 5: The mediational effect of psychological empowerment on

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transformational leadership and individual innovative behavior 82

Figure 8. Post Hoc: The mediational effect of creative climate on transformational leadership
and individual innovative behavior 83
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ANTECEDENTS OF INDIVIDUAL INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOR 1

CHAPTER I

Introduction

Innovation is so ubiquitous that most of the innovations people use and rely on daily are

taken for granted. Without innovations such as electricity, cars, and modern day medicine,

modern human lives would be vastly different. It was just mere decades ago that the technology

used to run most businesses such as the Internet, smart phones, Bluetooth, and social networking

sites did not even exist. Management expert Peter Drucker (2008) stated that in a time that

demands innovation, an established organization that is not able to innovate faces certain and

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rapid decline and extinction. As Drucker suggested, maintaining the status quo is no longer a

pragmatic option. It is becoming unmistakably evident that in order to navigate an ever evolving,
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increasingly complex world, organizations must remember that the only constant is change.

Therefore, it is necessary to utilize change in positive ways that include growth and innovation
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because, as history has shown, an organization’s current success does not mean it will remain

successful in the future.

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Due to the recent shift from a knowledge economy to an innovative economy (Carnevale,

Gainer, & Meltzer, 1990; Oke, Munshi, & Walumbwa, 2009), it is important for organizations to

identify the innovative characteristics they need in order to succeed. Employees drive

organizational initiatives and processes, so having employees who are innovative increases an

organization’s overall level of innovativeness. In a world where organizations depend on

innovation for their livelihood, it is essential to identify the employee characteristics and

innovative behaviors that drive companies such as Google, Apple, Amazon, and Pixar: all of

which have innovation embedded into their organizational core. Although the DNA of each

organization undoubtedly varies, some universal principles can be adopted by all organizations
ANTECEDENTS OF INDIVIDUAL INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOR 2

that would assist in the development and maintenance of an environment that cultivates

innovation and creativity among employees. The following are examples of innovation principles

and lessons from Google and Apple.

Google specializes in Internet-related services and products and is a well-known

innovative company that many would like to emulate. The company has focused on systemizing

innovation, and in 2014 they were making a net profit of $270,123 per employee (Halder, 2014).

Susan Wojcicki (2011), the Senior Vice President in charge of product management and

engineering at Google, shared the principles of innovation that helps them to foster their culture

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of innovation. According to Wojcicki, their guiding principles are:

1. Have a mission that matters. Work is more than just a job when it stands for
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something you care about, employees should feel connected to the company mission

and empowered to help achieve it.

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2. Think big but start small. No matter how ambitious the plan, you have to roll up your

sleeves and start somewhere.

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3. Strive for continual innovation, not instant perfection. The iterative process of

innovation failure teaches us invaluable lessons.

4. Look for ideas everywhere. Great ideas come from everyone, everywhere.

5. Share everything. Transparency and openness encourages discussion, exchange, and

re-interpretation of ideas which can lead to innovative outcomes.

6. Spark with imagination, fuel with data. Creative thinking fueled by insights and data

leads to innovation.

7. Be a platform for others ideas. Open technologies that enable anyone, anywhere, to

apply their unique perspective, knowledge, skills, and passion leads to innovation.
ANTECEDENTS OF INDIVIDUAL INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOR 3

8. Never fail to fail and learn from your mistakes. It is okay to fail if you learn from your

mistakes and correct them fast. Knowing it is okay to fail frees you up to take risks,

and you can never stop taking risks or you get left behind.

These principles are how Google maintains a spirit of innovation year after year. By being

committed to innovation and innovative behavior, they have consistently been one of the world’s

most innovative companies (“The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies,” 2012). They

cultivate these behaviors in their current employees, creating an environment that supports

innovation, which not only sets the foundation for their employees to engage in individual

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innovative behavior, but has also created a desire for likeminded individuals to flock to their

company, increasing their overall innovativeness.

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Organizations that wish to foster innovation must also focus on leadership that can

inspire and champion such a vision. Steve Jobs at Apple, Inc. is an example of a leader
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championing this vision for his organization. Apple, Inc. is one of the world’s most renowned

companies and leads the way in the digital economy with generating 74.6 billion in sales in just
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the fourth quarter of 2014 (Yarow, 2015). The company designs, develops, and sells consumer

electronics such as the iPhone, computer software, and personal computers. Steve Jobs had many

approaches to innovation such as skating to where the puck will be as opposed to where it is: in

other words, anticipating the action. Jobs was one of the most innovative leaders of all time, and

Resinger (2011) captured some of Jobs’ most innovative lessons thusly:

1. Don’t worry about the cost. Getting it right costs money, sometimes millions.

2. Give customers what they don’t know they want. Show customers what they need.

3. Don’t be afraid to create new markets. Think about what “new markets” you can

create by using technology within your organization.

ANTECEDENTS OF INDIVIDUAL INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOR 4

4. Design matters most. Elegant design and graphical user interfaces are highly valued

by consumers.

5. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Persistence and faith in a good project worthy of your

time and investment is essential.

6. Roll it out slowly. Give consumers enough to make them want to buy that product

now, but not enough to make them not want to buy the next device – engaged users

equal happy users.

7. Strive to do more than seems possible. Learning to think in terms of limitless

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possibilities is the trademark of a true innovator in any industry.

8. Every last detail counts. Paying attention to the details is just as important as
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dreaming up creative ideas.

9. The value of surprise. There is value in holding back some elements of your projects
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that you know will delight and engage your users.

10. Think you’re better, prove you’re better. Employees that believe they’re better than
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the rest are ones that prove it by driving innovation.

Jobs acted differently than most leaders, and many thought of him as arrogant. However, his

forward thinking, innovative outlook, and propensity to take risks liberated him from the need to

rely on consumer research and gave him the ability to show consumers what they needed. By

defining the needs for his consumers, Jobs was able to take million-dollar risks and skate to

where he believed the puck would be. As George Bernard Shaw (1903) said, “the reasonable

man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to

himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man” (p. 11). Jobs is a great

example of an unreasonable man and leader.

ANTECEDENTS OF INDIVIDUAL INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOR 5

Other companies can utilize the principles and lessons of Google and Apple as guidelines

to be adopted and adjusted as they work for their organization and employees. These guidelines

can be used prior to employees even joining their organization. When organizations emulate

these behaviors, they attract talent and can focus on hiring talent who are able to think creatively,

desire to be innovative, and are not afraid of taking risks. These guidelines can also be used to

develop, engage, and retain talent. Because organizations need to be constantly innovating to

stay competitive, organizations need to prioritize fostering and developing the individual

innovative behavior of their current employees. Uncovering the antecedents that will help to

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foster and develop an individual’s innovative behaviors will be extremely beneficial to an

organization. IE
Most organizations realize the importance of innovation as it relates to continued success

and have made innovation not only a priority but also part of their overall strategy. In order for
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individual innovative behaviors to be translated into the development and launching of products,

other related factors need to be explored further. By uncovering the antecedents of individual
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innovative behavior, this study serves as a means to provide a foundation in the development of

an organization’s innovation strategy.

Background

Although the definition of innovation varies by circumstance and context, the Advisory

Committee on Measuring Innovation in the 21st Century Economy (2008) collaborated to

develop a definition that could be used across organizations. The committee defined innovation

as “the design, invention, development and/or implementation of new or altered products,

services, processes, systems, organizational structures, or business models for the purpose of

creating new value for customers and financial returns for the firm” (p. 3). This definition asserts
ANTECEDENTS OF INDIVIDUAL INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOR 6

that innovation is not only something new or created; it can also be an altered version of

something that already exists for the purpose of creating added value for the consumer and

organization. However, while the authors support the idea of innovation for the purpose of

creating new value for customers, the notion that innovation is created for the purpose of

financial returns for an organization could be debated. Quite often, innovations are developed

without the intent to produce financial return, or they are created with the intent to produce

financial returns when none were produced. Just because there are no financial gains or even if

there are financial losses due to innovation does not make the innovation null or less impactful.

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For example, innovations for process improvements, service delivery enhancements, nonprofit

initiatives, green innovations, or safety improvements very often do not provide financial gain.
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Although financial gains are necessary for organizational growth, the focus of innovation should

be added value whether or not it is financial.

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For organizations to produce innovations, the author believes that they must rely on their

biggest asset: their employees. The innovative behavior of employees is what leads to
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innovation. Innovative behavior is the intentional creation, introduction, and application of new

ideas within a work role, group, or organization in order to benefit performance (Janssen, 2000).

Because employees create innovations, organizations must strategically implement ways to

enhance their innovative behaviors. Doing so will increase an organization’s innovativeness,

which is its capacity to engage in innovation, or its openness and likelihood to adopt new ideas

that lead to the development and launching of new products (Hult, Hurley, & Knight, 2004;

Hurley & Hult, 1998). Innovativeness has been widely recognized as an essential asset to the

survival and success of an organization, and many authors have referred to it as the most
ANTECEDENTS OF INDIVIDUAL INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOR 7

important component of business performance (Burns & Stalker, 1961; Porter, 1985;

Schumpeter, 1934).

In business, innovation and creativity have often mistakenly been used interchangeably,

when in fact they are two very distinct constructs. However, the two concepts are related, as

described by Isaksen and Treffinger (2004). According to these authors, creativity is generating

and communicating meaningful new ideas and connections, and innovation is the use and

implementation of these ideas and connections. Creativity is defined as the formulation of new

ideas and the application of these ideas to produce original works of art and cultural products,

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functional creations, scientific inventions, and technological innovations (United Nations, 2008).

Therefore, it seems that innovation is built upon creativity and cannot exist without it, yet simply
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because there is creativity does not mean there will be innovation. Because of the desirability of

innovation, this study focused on innovative behaviors as the desired outcome behavior as
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opposed to individual creativity. Also, individual innovative behaviors are more easily measured

and observed in both academic and professional settings as compared to individual creativity,
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thereby increasing the relevance and usefulness of innovative behavior as an outcome variable.

With respect to predictors, many antecedents of innovative behavior have been

researched. The first step in narrowing down the extensive list of antecedents found in the

literature was to have conversations with multiple individuals in the population to be sampled.

Eight informal interviews were held by the author to gain more insight on what factors they

believed affect innovation in the organization. Additionally, the predictors in the study were

chosen with the understanding that innovation does not occur in a silo, and examining an

organization’s contributing factors at multiple levels is necessary to gain a holistic view. This

holistic view will provide practitioners the opportunity to explore various methods to increase
ANTECEDENTS OF INDIVIDUAL INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOR 8

innovation. This study explored how these factors relate to innovation at the organization-level

(creative climate), leader-level (transformational leadership and role ambiguity), and individual-

level (risk propensity and psychological empowerment). Additionally, to ensure the most value

for practitioners, pragmatic predictors were selected based on their ability to be developed,

trained, and/or improved upon within an organization versus more internal characteristics such as

personality-based predictors. The intent of this focus was to allow organizations to benefit from

pragmatic factors that can be translated into interventions, a developmental action plan, and an

innovation strategy. Furthermore, the focus allowed organizations to deliberately spend their

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resources on supporting these significant predictors through interventions such as leadership

development; building an environment that is conducive to creativity, role clarity, innovative

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performance measures and evaluations; risk-taking simulations; and employee empowerment

coaching and practice.

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Transformational leadership is identified in current academic research as a major

determinant of successful innovation (Read, 2000) and was therefore proposed in this study to be
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the independent variable. Creative climate was examined as a moderating variable between

transformational leadership and individual innovative behavior. Some previous research explored

this model; however, this research did not always show support for this model, and when it did, it

was focused at the team or organization level. Therefore the need to explore climate further was

deemed prudent. Role ambiguity was examined as a moderating variable as it related to

innovative behavior. This had not been researched directly in previous studies; however,

communicating clear goals and priorities has been found to be linked to innovation (Fernandez &

Moldogaziev, 2012). There is a lack of empirical work on the influence of role ambiguity on

innovation research, and therefore this variable was included in the study. Risk propensity was
ANTECEDENTS OF INDIVIDUAL INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOR 9

also examined as a moderating variable because without risks there would be no innovation

(Borins, 2001). Risk propensity has also been correlated to creative performance and higher level

of product innovation (Dewett, 2006; and Lee & Sukoco, 2011). Lastly, psychological

empowerment was examined as a mediating variable. Previous research has found that

transformational leadership does not have a direct relationship with individual innovative

behavior, but that psychological empowerment does (Pieterse, van Knippenberg, Schippers, &

Stam, 2010). This relationship was supported by the interviews conducted by the author in the

organization. This study sought to clarify the influence and direction among these variables.

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Extraordinary leadership behaviors, such as transformational leadership, have been

shown to increase employees’ innovative productivity as well as overall organizational

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innovation (Kouzes & Posner, 1987). One of the ways leaders influence innovation is by creating

a climate that encourages creativity and implementation of innovative ideas (Isaksen, &
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Akkermans, 2011). They do this by influencing and motivating others to come up with new and

useful outcomes (Vroom & Jago, 2007). The innovation-enhancing behaviors of transformational
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leadership are positively related to followers’ creativity level (Gumusluoglu & Ilsev, 2009).

When employees see that their leaders are supportive of innovation, there is a corresponding

positive effect on individual innovative behaviors (Tierney & Farmer, 2004). Other ways leaders

influence innovation is through championing change, supporting a vision of innovation, and

being an innovative role-model (Carmeli & Schaubroeck, 2007; Gumusluoglu & Ilsev, 2009;

Jung, Chow, & Wu, 2003).

In addition to leadership, organizational culture and climate have been continuously

linked to innovation. Examining organizational culture, Flynn and Chatman (2001) discovered

that when the right values are shared, it has a positive contributing effect on a creative and
ANTECEDENTS OF INDIVIDUAL INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOR 10

innovative culture. Innovation is supported through appropriate cultural norms and culture has

been found to be the primary determinant of innovation (Ahmed, 1998). This is important

because it has been demonstrated that organizations that purposefully and intentionally managed

their cultures consistently outperformed organizations that did not (in terms of revenue, stock

prices, and net income; Kotter & Heskett, 1992).

Organizational culture refers to the values, beliefs, and assumptions of its members

(Denison, 1996), whereas organizational climate is the observed and recurring patterns of

behavior, attitudes, and feelings in the organization (Denison, 1996; Ekvall, 1991). Simply put,

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culture is the foundation of what the organization values, and climate is what the members of the

organization experience; at times, these can be two very different constructs. Moreover,
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changing the culture of an organization is difficult because of the need to change the beliefs and

values that are core to the organization and its members, and it is much easier to change the
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climate and language, as they are subject to the leaders’ direct control (Thomson, 1998). In order

to provide the most useful and practical information for organizations, this study focused on
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climate versus culture. Although culture should not be ignored and the desired goal should be to

change an organization’s culture towards a more innovative one, culture can take years to

modify. Therefore focusing on climate as a starting point and a springboard into an innovative

culture is recommended.

Role ambiguity refers to the lack of specificity and predictability of an employee’s job or

role functions and responsibilities (Beehr, 1976; Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek, & Rosenthal,

1964). When employees are unclear in regard to their role or goals, they tend to abandon creative

initiatives (Ford, 1996). When there is ambiguity, employees will place their attention on day-to-

day tasks or projects that have clear and tangible results, and reduce or eliminate their focus on