The Antecedents of Employees’ Innovative Behavior in Hospitality and Tourism Contexts: A Meta-Regression Approach

While many empirical studies have examined the various factors that influence employee innovative behavior (EIB), there have been few efforts to synthesize previous research to understand how EIB is linked to its antecedents. Based on 125 empirical studies (N = 44,427) in the context of hospitality and tourism, this study used meta-regression to investigate the 30 major antecedents of EIB, as well as the moderating roles played by ‘national culture’ (individualism vs. collectivism), ‘age’ and ‘gender’, on the links between the antecedents and EIB. The results showed that ‘perceived meaningfulness at work’ and ‘work engagement’ were found to have stronger relations with EIB than others, and that ‘national culture’, ‘age’, and ‘gender’, moderated the relations between EIB and several of the antecedents. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed for researchers and practitioners alike.