Charismatic Leadership and Perceived Team Innovative Behavior in SMEs: The Mediating Role of Employees’ Self-Concept

For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), innovation plays an important role in remaining competitive as business conditions change. While previous research has linked leadership to innovative behavior, less is known about the psychological processes underlying this relationship. This study investigates how charismatic leadership relates to perceived team innovative behavior in Turkish SMEs, with particular attention to the possible mediating role of employees’ self-concept. We used a quantitative, cross-sectional design and administered an online questionnaire to employees of SMEs in Mersin, Turkey. After data screening, 250 valid responses were used to evaluate the measurement and structural models using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS.Charismatic leadership was positively associated with perceived team innovative behavior and employees’ self-concept. Employees’ self-concept was also positively associated with perceived team innovative behavior. The estimated indirect effect of charismatic leadership on perceived team innovative behavior through employees’ self-concept was positive but small. The percentile bootstrap 95% confidence interval did not support statistical significance. The findings indicate positive associations among charismatic leadership, employees’ self-concept, and perceived team innovative behavior in Turkish SMEs. These findings suggest that leadership and employees’ perceptions of themselves are relevant to innovation-related behavior, although further research using longitudinal data and improved measurement models is needed.