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Research on Science & Technology Talents

The Impact of Digital Leadership on Employee Innovative Behav⁃ ior: A Moderated Mediation Effect Model 

Cao Yong1, 2 , Chen Bingxuan1 , Liu Menghan1

(1.Management School, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan 430200, China; 2.Enterprise Decision Support Re‐ search Center of Hubei Province, Wuhan 430200, China)

Abstract: In the era of the digital economy, it has become an inevitable trend for manufactur‐ ing enterprises to empower employee innovation through digital leadership to facilitate their digi‐ tal transformation. However, the academic community has not fully explored the mechanisms  and limitations of how digital leadership specifically affects employee innovation behavior. This  study, based on upper echelons theory and knowledge-based view, constructs a moderated me‐ diation model that examines how digital leadership affects employee innovation behavior through  knowledge sharing and explores the moderating role of employee agility. The findings aim to pro‐ vide both theoretical insights and practical guidance for the digital transformation of manufactur‐ ing enterprises. The study targets middle and senior managers in manufacturing enterprises and  collects data through a large-scale survey. The survey design utilizes established scales from  both domestic and international sources, and the final scale was refined based on pre-testing re‐ sults. A total of 485 questionnaires were distributed, with 327 valid responses collected, yielding  an effective response rate of 67.42%. The data analysis is conducted using SPSS 25.0 and AMOS  26.0 for reliability and validity testing, correlation analysis, and hierarchical regression analysis. The Bootstrap method is used to verify the robustness of the mediation and moderation effects. The study variables include Digital Leadership (DL), Knowledge Sharing (KS), Employee Agility  (EA), and Employee Innovation Behavior (EIB), with control variables covering company age, size, nature, and industry type. The findings of the study indicate that digital leadership posi‐ tively affects employee innovation behavior. Furthermore, knowledge sharing plays a partial me‐ diating role in the relationship between digital leadership and employee innovation behavior. Ad‐ditionally, employee agility not only positively moderates the relationship between knowledge  sharing and employee innovation behavior, but also positively moderates the mediating effect of  knowledge sharing between digital leadership and employee innovation behavior. The theoretical contributions of this study include: ①revealing the mediating mechanism  through which digital leadership influences employee innovation behavior via knowledge shar‐ ing, filling the gap in existing research that overlooks knowledge management pathways; ②veri‐ fying for the first time the moderating role of employee agility in the "digital leadership - knowl‐ edge sharing - employee innovation behavior" path, expanding the theoretical research on limita‐ tions in the digital environment; ③combining upper echelons theory and the knowledge-based  view to provide a cross-theoretical perspective for understanding the relationship between digi‐ tal leadership and employee innovation behavior. Practical implications of the study include: ① Manufacturing enterprises should enhance the digital leadership of their managers by fostering  strategic foresight, empowering them through digital technologies, and cultivating an inclusive  culture to encourage employee innovation. ②Organizations should strengthen the knowledgesharing system and leverage digital technologies to promote cross-departmental and crossorganizational knowledge flow, thereby providing a continuous source of innovation. ③It is im‐ portant to focus on cultivating employee agility by implementing incentive mechanisms, adaptive  training, and flexible management practices to enhance employees' ability to respond to dynamic  environments, thus amplifying the innovative effects of knowledge sharing. 

Key words: digital leadership; knowledge sharing; employee agility; employee innovative be‐ havior