The Impact of Humble Leadership on Innovation Practices: Examining the Role of Psychological Safety in Multi-National Companies (MNCs)

This study aims to investigate the impact of Humble Leadership (HL) on Innovation Practices (IP) within Multi-National Companies (MNCs). It examines the role of Psychological Safety (PS) as a key influencing factor in this relationship. The research highlights the potential for humble leadership behaviors to cultivate a supportive environment for innovation, providing insights for enhancing innovative capacity in complex global organizations. Utilizing survey data collected from employees/managers in MNCs, this study employs Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). A two-stage analysis approach was employed to assess the measurement model's reliability and validity, followed by structural model evaluation using bootstrapping (5,000 resamples) to test the hypothesized relationships. The measurement model demonstrated adequate convergent and discriminant validity. The structural model analysis revealed significant positive relationships between HL and PS (supporting H2), PS and IP (supporting H3), and HL and IP (supporting H1). The model explained substantial variance in IP (R² = 78.7%) and moderate variance in PS (R² = 17.3%), with large effect sizes observed for the paths influencing IP. The findings suggest that fostering HL and PS are key strategies for promoting IP within MNCs. Practical implications include recommendations for leadership development focusing on humility and creating psychologically safe environments. Limitations include reliance on pre-existing analysis results and likely cross-sectional data, preventing definitive causal claims and further validation checks (e.g., Q², specific CMB tests). Future research could employ longitudinal designs and explore additional mediators or moderators. This research contributes empirical evidence on the integrated HL → PS → IP pathway within the under-explored context of MNCs, offering valuable insights into the mechanisms by which humble leadership facilitates innovation.