Influential role of homophily on innovative work behavior: evidence from innovation management of SMEs

In the rapidly changing market environment, innovative work behavior plays an important role in improving small and medium enterprises’ (SMEs) efficiency and competitiveness. SME success depends on its employees’ ability to innovate. Until now, innovation studies have not examined the role of homophily in improving innovative work behavior. For this reason, the study aims to examine how homophily enhances innovative work behavior through the mediating role of job excitement and the moderating role of employee flexibility. For the current study, data were collected from 423 SME respondents using a cross-sectional method. Findings show that homophily positively influences work behavior of SMEs’ members. Furthermore, results show that job excitement mediating role and employee functional flexibility moderating role affect the relation between homophily and innovative behavior. The current study contributes to existing knowledge by investigating how homophily affects employees’ innovative work behavior. In addition, a moderating role for employee functional flexibility and a mediating role of job excitement were also tested in this study to determine how homophily can influence innovative work behavior.