The Ohio State U. Fisher College of Business, United States
This study examines the relationship between power distance perception and employees' innovative behavior, focusing on how high-involvement work systems (HIWSs) mitigate the negative effects of power distance on innovation. Drawing on a large longitudinal dataset from the Human Capital Corporate Panel (HCCP) in Korea, the research proposes to explore how power distance and human resource management (HRM) systems interact over time to influence individual innovation. The study highlights power distance as a situational factor, interacting with HRM systems, and suggests that employees' perceptions of power distance play a significant role in shaping their innovative behaviors. The findings demonstrate that while high power distance negatively impacts innovative behavior, HIWSs—such as autonomy, participative decision-making, and training—moderate this effect by fostering a more innovation-friendly environment. Theoretical contributions include the integration of the behavioral perspective into strategic HRM, which emphasizes individual employees’ perceptions as mediators between HRM systems and organizational outcomes. This research also presents power distance as a dynamic, situation-specific construct, in contrast to the traditional view of power distance as a stable cultural or individual trait. The study further underscores the importance of time, revealing that, over time, power distance’s negative influence on innovation decreases as organizational climates evolve. From a practical standpoint, the study advises organizations to align HRM systems with the organizational climate to minimize contradictory signals and enhance innovation. Future research is encouraged to explore more consistent datasets and diverse HRM systems to further examine these dynamics.
