CEO Relational Leadership and Product Innovation Performance: The Roles of TMT Behavior and Characteristics

• Published in: Frontiers in psychology Vol. 13; p. 874105
• Main Authors: Wang, Yimin, Su, Qianhong, Sun, Wei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 27.04.2022
• Subjects: CEO relational leadership; product innovation performance; Psychology; TMT age; TMT education; TMT voice behavior; TMT education; TMT age; CEO relational leadership; TMT voice behavior; product innovation performance
• ISSN: 1664-1078; 1664-1078
• DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.874105

CEO leadership is considered a critical antecedent of product innovation performance, but the relational aspect of leadership has been largely neglected in this area. Drawing on upper echelons theory and relational leadership literature, this study explores , , and CEO relational leadership influences product innovation performance. Specifically, we analyze the underlying mechanism of TMT (top management team) voice behavior and two boundary conditions-TMT educational level and TMT age. Based on multi-source and multi-wave data on 105 Chinese firms, this study finds that CEO relational leadership plays an important role in promoting product innovation performance through the intervening mechanism of TMT voice behavior. Furthermore, the positive relationship between CEO relational leadership and TMT voice behavior is stronger in TMTs with higher educational level and lower age. This study contributes to the existing literature by empirically examining the under-investigated relationship between CEO relational leadership and product innovation performance, and by disentangling the underlying mechanism and boundary conditions.