ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Organizational Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1581513
The Impact of Authentic Leadership on Employees' Bootleg Innovation Behavior: The Mediating Role of Affective Commitment
Provisionally accepted
- 1Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
- 2Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- 3Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, China
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Innovation is the core competitiveness that maintains the continuous development of enterprises. Deviated innovation, as an important way for employees to engage in innovative activities and promote enterprises to enhance their competitive advantages, has become an increasingly important topic of concern in the academic circle.This study reveals the relationship between authentic leadership and employee bootleg innovation within the Chinese context, expanding research on the formation mechanisms of deviant innovative behaviors. It provides significant guidance for effectively leveraging authentic leadership, appropriately directing employee deviant innovative behaviors, and advancing enterprise management practices.Method: Based on social exchange theory and the cognitive-affective personality system theory, to explore the mechanisms through which authentic leadership influences employees' deviant innovative behavior. The research focuses on high-tech enterprises in several provinces of China, collected 378 valid sample data of employees from high-tech enterprises. All data were analyzed using SPSS22.0, and the Bootstrap mediating effect test method was used to test the mediating effect results. The structural equation model was tested using AMOS24.0 statistical software.Results: Authentic leadership has a significant positive effect on deviant innovation behavior (β=0.409, P < 0.001), and all four dimensions of authentic leadership have a significant positive impact on deviant innovation behavior. Self-awareness has a significant positive impact on employees' deviant innovation behavior (β=0.101, P < 0.05), relationship transparency has a significant positive impact on employees' deviant innovation behavior (β=0.196, P < 0.001), and internalized morality has a significant positive impact on employees' deviant innovation behavior (β=0.129). (P < 0.01), balanced information processing has a significant positive impact on employees' deviant innovative behaviors (β=0.268, P < 0.001). Authentic leadership has a positive effect on emotional commitment (β=0.205, P < 0.001), and all four dimensions of authentic leadership have a significant positive impact on emotional commitment. Self-awareness has a significant positive impact on emotional commitment (β=0.201, P < 0.001), relationship transparency has a significant positive impact on emotional commitment (β=0.264, P < 0.001), and internalized morality has a significant positive impact on emotional commitment (β=0.136, P < 0.01). Balanced information processing has a significant positive impact on emotional commitment (β=0.361, P < 0.001).
Keywords: Authentic leadership, Bootleg innovation, Affective commitment, self-awareness, Relational transparency, Internalized moral perspective, balanced processing
Received: 22 Feb 2025; Accepted: 28 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Oubibi, Xu and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Mohamed Oubibi, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
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