Factors affecting innovative behavior of Vietnamese enterprises employees

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors affecting innovative behavior (IB) of Vietnamese enterprises employees based on theories of transformational leadership, social cognitive and knowledge spiral. Design/methodology/approach This study used a combination of in-depth interviews and large-scale surveys in 15 enterprises in the North, Central and South of Vietnam. In total, 455 valid questionnaires from employees of information technology, telecommunications and e-commerce enterprises have been used in this research to explore the impact of transformational leadership (TL), coworker support (CS) and organizational learning (OL) on employees' IB. The data collected were subjected to quantitative analysis, including Cronbach's alpha reliability test, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) for scales and hypotheses testing. Findings The results show that there are positive relationships between TL, OL and employees' IB, in which OL has a stronger impact than TL. Research limitations/implications The limitations of this paper are that other factors affecting the innovation behavior of employees in Vietnamese enterprises have not been fully explored, the rejection of the hypothesis about the relationship between CS and employees' IB needs to be considered with the moderating role of job characteristics and the use of convenient random sample selection, due to which its reliability may not be guaranteed. Practical implications From the results of this study, the authors point out that managers in Vietnamese enterprises should develop TL to deliver more creativity in an organization and enhance the corporate learning-oriented environment. Originality/value This paper contributes to the existing literature by focusing on factors affecting IB of enterprises employees in Vietnam, an emerging economy in the world.