In the era of globalization, customers and organizational members are diversified, and in the ESG management environment, securing DEIB(Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging) and innovating within the company is an essential strategy for surviva...
In the era of globalization, customers and organizational members are diversified, and in the ESG management environment, securing DEIB(Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging) and innovating within the company is an essential strategy for survival. This study aims to provide direction in terms of human resource development by examining the mediating effect of learning agility and the moderating effect of supervisor's inclusive leadership on the effect of individual openness to diversity on innovation behavior in organizations.
The research questions were: First, what is the relationship between openness to diversity, learning agility, innovation behavior, and inclusive leadership? Second, does learning agility have a mediating effect in the relationship between openness to diversity and innovative behavior? Third, does inclusive leadership have a moderating effect on the relationship between learning agility and innovative behavior? The results of an online survey of 300 domestic small and medium-sized enterprises in Korea, which account for about 99.8% of all businesses and must be more agile in change in order to have continuous growth and competitive advantage, were analyzed.
The results of the study are as follows. First, when examining the influence relationship between openness to diversity, learning agility, innovative behavior, and inclusive leadership, openness to diversity only affects innovative behavior through learning agility. Like inconsistent previous research results, the effect of diversity on organizational performance may appear differently depending on the type of diversity, situation variables, and intervention variables. Second, openness to diversity suggests the importance of learning agility as a variable in that it has a positive effect on innovative behavior only through the medium of learning agility. Beyond simply having various backgrounds, organizational members can lead to innovative behavior when they are accompanied by a willingness to learn and an attitude to learn. Third, inclusive leadership has been shown to have a moderating effect and a controlled mediating effect. The mediating effect of openness to diversity on innovative behavior through learning agility increased when inclusive leadership increased.
The meaning and implications of this study are as follows. First, even at the same level of diversity in the organization, differences in the degree to which individuals perceive diversity affect performance, so it means the need to prepare education and selection criteria, systems, and rewards within the organization to increase openness to diversity. Second, unlike previous studies that have divided openness to diversity into organizational performance and learning aspects, it is meaningful in that it examines research that integrates performance and learning. Third, the importance of the supervisors' inclusive leadership to enhance innovative behavior through learning agility was confirmed. Organizations should create an environment that embraces differences and suggest the need for organizational strategies and education to foster competent inclusive leaders.