The impact of leader member exchange on shop-floor worker innovation in South African manufacturing firms

Abstract

This study investigates the impact that certain constructs of Leader Member Exchange (LMX) between supervisors and shop floor workers of South African manufacturing firms have on the willingness of the shop floor workers to introduce new ideas. In particular, the constructs; trust, development of skills and inclusion of the worker is examined. Since shop-floor workers are intimately involved with their day to day operations and work at the coalface, the ideas recommended by these individuals are suggested to often be antecedents of innovation. By gaining an understanding of the relationship between the aforementioned LMX constructs and the willingness of shop floor workers to introduce new ideas, certain modes of behavioural interaction can be implemented in order to enhance shop floor innovation. It is argued that such strategic intervention in turn will result in shop floor innovation as a source of competitive advantage for an organisation.The primary data was collected through physical interviews using a questionnaire that addresses all the mentioned constructs. All of the 50 dyads were usable in the correlation and regression models run. The outcome of this research supports the literature that trust and inclusion are positively correlated with the willingness of shop floor workers to introduce new ideas. Notably was the extent to which workers and supervisors perceived levels of worker inclusion differently. The regression analysis reveals that some of the willingness of workers to introduce new ideas can be explained by the presence of all three explanatory variables namely, trust, development and inclusion. The research has shown that trust contributes to willingness of workers to introduce new ideas, but in contrast to literature, development has a negative impact. The results provide insight into the relationships between these constructs and the willingness of shop floor workers in South African manufacturing firms to introduce new ideas.