The Effect of Mindful Leadership on Employee Innovative Behavior: Evidence from the Healthcare Sectors in China

In the health care system, it is increasingly apparent that employee innovative behavior improves the core competitiveness and resilience of organizations. Previous research has identified leadership behavior as a key predictor of employee innovative behavior. Following this logic and by integrating social information processing theory with existing research conclusions, we constructed a moderated mediation model to examine the mechanism by which mindful leadership influences employee innovative behavior. An empirical analysis of 361 questionnaires that were completed by employees from the healthcare sector in China shows that mindful leadership is positively and significantly correlated with employee innovative behavior. Creative process engagement was found to play a mediating role in this relationship. Moreover, creative self-efficacy positively moderated the relationship between mindful leadership and creative process engagement and moderated the mediating effect of creative process engagement on the relationship between mindful leadership and employee innovative behavior. That is, compared with employees with lower creative self-efficacy, employees with higher creative self-efficacy experienced a stronger indirect effect of mindful leadership on their innovative behavior. This study enriches the theoretical research on mindful leadership, clarifies the mechanism and boundary conditions of the effect of mindful leadership on employee innovative behavior, and provides theoretical support for organizational activities that stimulate and guide employee innovative behavior.