Evaluation of the effect of leadership style on the innovative climate and innovative climate on the employees' behavior

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of transformational and paternalistic leadership characteristics of logistics managers on innovation climate and innovative business behavior. In this study, transformational leadership and paternalistic leadership were thought to be the determinants of innovation climate, that is the determinant of innovation behavior, and the model of the research is developed accordingly. For this purpose, transformational leadership, paternalistic leadership, innovation climate and innovation behavior scales which were used in Önhon and Turgut (2016)'s thesis titled "The relationship between organizational climate for innovation and employees' innovative work behavior; the moderating effects of leadership behavior; ICT sector in Turkey" were performed in this study. The sample of the study consists of forwarding companies operating in Mersin. Complete census method was used in the study and data were collected from 114 personel by electronic survey method. By reason of seven of these 114 questionnaires were filled out incorrectly, 107 questionnaires were taken into consideration. SPSS 20.0 (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) and AMOS 24.0 (Analysis of Moment Structures) were used to evaluate the data. The reliability and construct validity of the scales were tested. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to test the construct validity of the scales. Therefore, the scales used in the study were found to be highly reliable and provide construct validity. The hypotheses of the study were examined by correlation and regression analysis. It was determined that transformational leadership and paternalistic leadership had a significant and positive effect on innovation climate and innovation climate had same effect on innovative work behavior. There was no significant difference between the groups according to demographic variables except for the working position. This study is a good guide to demonstrate for the practitiones that the leadership style applied within the organization affects the climate of innovation and hence the innovation behavior of the employees, which is very important for the continuity of the organization. In the future studies, new leadership styles that may arise as a result of changes that affect both the management style and the organizational structure of the organizations, and the climate of innovation that these leadership styles may cause and the results of the innovation behavior which is a reflection of this climate may be a new study subject.