Autonomy with Clear Boundaries Stimulates Innovation Energy of Employees

Abstract

In the current era of rapid global tensions and transformations, organisations increasingly recognise that bottom-up innovation is essential for sustaining effective innovation processes. While research on Innovative Work Behaviour (IWB) has grown, limited attention has been paid to the necessary delimitation of autonomy to stimulate IWB in conjunction with the strategic direction of an organisation. This study addresses this gap by examining how personal and contextual factors shape IWB within organisational settings. Employees who engage in IWB function as key agents of change, aligning innovative efforts with organisational strategy through problem recognition, idea generation, idea promotion, and idea realisation. Their contributions are influenced by individual attributes—such as creativity, psychological empowerment, and optimism—together with enabling factors including perceived autonomy, external collaboration, innovative teamwork, and supportive leadership. Yet organisations face continuous risks of obsolescence, driven by expanding knowledge and volatile market demands that require new products and services. Within this context, innovative and conservative employee groups coexist; when conservative orientations prevail, stagnation and decline become more likely. To explore these dynamics, we conducted semi-structured interviews with twenty-seven managers and seventy employees, complemented by five focus groups with seventeen employees across diverse departments in three profit and nonprofit organisations. Findings highlight perceived autonomy as a central facilitator of IWB but also emphasise the necessity of clearly defined boundaries. Without constraints—such as deadlines, regulatory frameworks, organisational procedures, or system requirements—innovation risks becoming unfocused, ambiguous, or misaligned with strategic priorities. This study contributes by demonstrating that innovation outcomes are most successful when top and middle management ensure close alignment between organisational strategy and innovation objectives. Such strategic coherence reduces the risk of employee disillusionment, ensuring that innovative initiatives are not developed in isolation but embedded within the organisation.