Inclusiveness and Intrapreneurial Behaviours in Organisations

Abstract

A growing interest has recently been directed to the ways by which organisations and leaders can drive individual intrapreneurship (intra-organisational entrepreneurship). However, this research has been slow to accumulate, particularly regarding how leaders motivate employees to engage in intrapreneurial behaviours. It adopts a relational leadership theory to guide and integrate research on inclusiveness, regulatory focus and work engagement to develop and test a mechanisms model that explains why inclusive leadership facilitates intrapreneurial behaviours. Structural equation modeling and meta-analysis results of multiple studies across settings in two countries indicate that psychological availability, openness to experience and promotion gains are key mechanisms whereby inclusive leadership influences intrapreneurship. In addition, psychological availability was positively related to gains, whereas other sub-dimensions of regulatory focus theory did not show a similar pattern. Our findings also indicate a positive interactive influence of openness to experience and promotion gains on intrapreneurship. This study advances the literatures of leadership and intrapreneurship by revealing the mechanisms whereby inclusive leadership facilitates employee intrapreneurial behaviours.