The effect of white collar employees' inclusive leadership perceptions on their innovative behaviors: A research in the manufacturing sector

This study examines the impact of white-collar employees' perceptions of inclusive leadership on their innovative behaviors. It investigates how managers' inclusive leadership behaviors affect the innovative potential of white-collar employees who play a key role in organizations. Based on the values of collaboration and diversity, inclusive leadership considers and supports different perspectives of employees, which in turn increases their motivation and encourages them to think creatively and innovatively. The importance of this study is to provide guidance to managers and researchers on how the impact of inclusive leadership behaviors on employees' innovative behaviors can be assessed in the business world. In this study, "relational survey model" was used as a quantitative research method to achieve the stated purpose. The population of the study consists of white-collar employees in a manufacturing company in Ankara. 444 white-collar employees participated in the study. When the quantitative findings of the study are examined, the perception of inclusive leadership has a significant effect on innovative behavior. However, the impact of sub-dimensions such as supporting group members, fairness and equality, and shared decision-making processes was not significant. Encouraging diverse contributions and helping group members to make full contributions positively affected innovative behavior. Differences were found in the perception of inclusive leadership and innovative behavior according to demographic characteristics. The overall results showed that the perception of inclusive leadership had a statistically significant effect on innovative behavior. However, this effect was found to vary across sub-dimensions. Keywords: leadership, inclusive leadership, innovative behavior, white collar, manufacturing sector