ANALYSIS OF EMPLOYEE INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOR IN SRI LANKAN SOFTWARE COMPANIES

Abstract

Along with the advancement of the technology, software companies have to face a huge competition in the global and the local market. To face this competition innovations can be used as a strategic weapon. As employees are the main driving forces of innovation, their behavior can be a crucial factor in boosting innovation. Innovative behavior is referred as the introduction and application of new ideas, products, processes, and procedures to a person's work role or an organization. This behavior directly affects innovation performance of an organization. The main aim of this study is to identify the factors that affect employee innovative behavior and their effect in Sri Lankan software companies using a quantitative methodology. Apart from that this study provides a conclusive summary of the current status of innovative behavior of employees. As the initial step mapping study was done to find the past literature related to the research topic. From that study, seventeen papers were identified as primary studies. Factors that have been proved by previously done research were used in this study. So nine factors were considered to cover a broad area of innovative behavior. A model was constructed by considering the above factors to get a clear idea about the study. Findings of the study emphasizes that both individual and organizational factors affect innovative behavior. Results have proven that psychological capital, organizational support, rewards, resource availability, leadership and social capital have a significant impact on employee innovative behavior while organizational structure, organizational commitment and work characteristics haven’t any impact. Proposed model was reconstructed according to the results and areas that should be improved were identified.