R&D employees' innovative behaviors in Taiwan: HRM and managerial coaching as moderators

Recently, scholars have acknowledged the importance of exploring factors affecting R&D employees' innovative behaviors in high-technology firms. In addition to the employee's individual differences, an organization's contextual factors serve as the moderators in facilitating the research and development (R&D) employee's innovative behaviors. This survey-based research investigates the influence of HRM (incentive pay system and training) and managerial coaching on the relationships between the R&D employee's characteristics (intrinsic motivation and prior work experience) and the innovative behaviors. A total of 127 R&D employees formed the research sample along with 23 R&D managers who evaluated their employees' innovative behaviors. The results indicate that intrinsic motivation and prior work experience correlate significantly with innovative behaviors. Both HRM (incentive pay system and training) and managerial coaching positively moderates the relationships between employee characteristics and innovative behaviors. Implications for HRM practice and suggestions for future research are discussed.