DOES FIT MATTER? AN INVESTIGATION OF EMPLOYEE-SUPERVISOR INDIVIDUAL ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION FIT ON INNOVATIVE WORK BEHAVIOR WITHIN ESTABLISHED ORGANIZATIONS

Within established organizations, employee innovative behavior is vital for the long-term survival of firms. Employee individual entrepreneurial orientation (IEO) represents tendencies by an individual toward innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk-taking behaviors. IEO is an emerging construct in the entrepreneurship domain, and while an important construct, contextual factors can influence the employee’s demonstration of innovative work behavior (IWB). The degree of IEO similarity or fit between an employee and their supervisor is theorized to amplify the employee’s innovative work behavior. To guide this research, person-supervisor fit (P-S fit) theory and strategic consensus theory provided a theoretical framework to investigate the relationships between these constructs. Drawing on a sample of employees across all levels of an established firm, two sets of data were analyzed: perceptions of supervisor IEO fit (n = 265) and matched pairs of IEO between employee-supervisor dyads (n = 132). Results suggest that employees’ levels of innovativeness and proactiveness are positively associated with IWB. Additionally, the data suggest that the level of proactiveness and risk-taking fit have mixed findings, suggesting that the supervisor IEO fit magnifies the IEO-IWB relationship when the employee has low levels of proactiveness and risk-taking tendencies. This research has theoretical and practical implications by examining individual level EO, within the context of supervisor fit, in promoting innovative behavior in the workplace.