Perceived Organizational Support and Proactive Innovation Behavior: The Mediating Role of Basic Psychological Needs

Chuanhao Fan; Sijie Tang; Long Chen; Tingting Sun

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.804363

Perceived Organizational Support and Proactive Innovation Behavior: The Mediating Role of Basic Psychological Needs

Front Psychol. 2022 Mar 18:13:804363. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.804363. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Chuanhao Fan^{1

2}, Sijie Tang¹, Long Chen^{1

2}, Tingting Sun³

Affiliations

¹ Business School, Hohai University, Nanjing, China.
² Human Resources Research Institute, Ministry of Water Resources, Nanjing, China.
³ Nanjing Hexi New Town Development and Construction Management Committee, Nanjing, China.

Abstract

Drawing upon self-determination theory, this study aimed to explore the mechanisms underlying the impact of perceived organizational support on proactive innovation behavior and reveal the serial mediation effects of basic psychological needs. We collected time-lagged data of 481 employees from research institutions in China, and structural equation modeling analyses were carried out to test the hypotheses. The results indicate that perceived organizational support is significantly and positively related to proactive innovation behavior, and this relationship was mediated by the need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. These findings contribute new knowledge to proactive innovation behavior by providing a new perspective of the satisfaction of psychological needs. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Keywords: autonomy need; competence need; perceived organizational support; proactive innovation behavior; relatedness need; self-determination theory.