The mediating role of competitive advantage in the relationship of leadership style with innovation: Maritime industry example

Businesses can hold on to their industry; It changes depending on their effective management, innovation behaviors and competitive strategies so that they can increase the customer potential and compete. Companies in the sector should exhibit innovative behavior in order to ensure their continuity. Competitive advantage, innovation and management are intertwined and important concepts. Nowadays, increasing competition in the business world as a natural result of globalization forces businesses to be more and more innovative. This study, which aims to determine the mediating role of competitive advantage in the relationship between leadership and innovation, includes 297 personnel working in the maritime sector operating in the province of Istanbul. In the study, in which the convenience sampling method was used, the data were obtained by a questionnaire technique including questions including demographic, leadership, competitive advantage and innovation. The data obtained were analyzed with the statistical package program. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were performed to test the validity and reliability of the scales used in the study. In the light of the studies in the national and international literature, the Bootstraping test was used to determine the mediating role by creating hypotheses and the results were interpreted accordingly. The influence between leadership and innovation, between leadership and competitive advantage, between competitive advantage and innovation has been found to be significantly influential. In the research, it has been determined that the leader has a partial intermediary role in increasing the innovation performance through mediation of competitive advantage. Keywords: Innovation, Leadership, Competitive Advantage.