The impact of leaders' technical competence on employees' innovation and learning

The support of leaders plays a crucial role in enhancing employees' learning and innovation. While most of the current literature focuses on leadership styles and managerial skills, limited research has considered the impact of leaders' technical competence on subordinates' learning and innovation. Data were collected from 52 leaders and 127 subordinates within 68 telecommunication companies in Vietnam. The results show that the leaders' technical competence has positive relationships with the subordinates' innovative and learning work behavior. Moreover, learning work behavior has a partial mediating effect on the relationship between the leaders' technical competence and the subordinates' innovative work behavior. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.