ABSTRACT

Despite the importance of innovation and innovative behaviors to the public institutions, the climate of these organizations does not grant their employees a sense of purpose and meaningfulness to be intrinsically motivated in their work. Ambiguous goals may influence employee’s attitudes and behaviors. However, previous research findings were mixed about the effect of goals on innovation at work. This study, therefore, seeks to explain the perplexing relationship between organizational goal ambiguity (OGA) and innovative work behavior (IWB) regarding the mediating effect of employee morale. A survey was administered, and respondents were selected from four public organizations of Iran. Finally, data were collected from 700 operational, full-time employees. Results indicated that employee morale mediates the connection between OGA and IWB. This paper advances a further understanding of how employee morale can weaken the direct effect of OGA on innovative work behavior. Implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.

摘要

尽管创新和创新行为对公共机构很重要，但这些组织的氛围并没有赋予其员工在工作中受到内在动力的目标感和意义感。模糊的目标可能会影响员工的态度和行为。然而，关于目标对工作创新的影响，先前的研究结果喜忧参半。因此，本研究旨在解释组织目标模糊性 (OGA) 和创新工作行为 (IWB) 之间关于员工士气中介效应的复杂关系。进行了一项调查，受访者是从伊朗的四个公共组织中选出的。最后，从 700 名运营全职员工那里收集了数据。结果表明，员工士气在 OGA 和 IWB 之间起到中介作用。本文进一步了解员工士气如何削弱 OGA 对创新工作行为的直接影响。讨论了对未来研究的影响和建议。