Transformational Leadership and R&D Innovation: Taking a Curvilinear Approach

Abstract

Only few studies have examined innovation at the team level so far. Moreover, there are different positions when it comes to the role of leadership in engendering R&D team innovation. Innovation research outlines that high levels of team autonomy are beneficial to innovation in R&D teams and thus suggests that leaders should give as little intellectual guidance as possible. Leadership research proposes transformational leadership as a lever for facilitating team innovation. We integrate these two perspectives by arguing for a U‐shaped relationship between transformational leadership and R&D team innovation. This hypothesis was supported by data from 52 R&D teams of international companies.