Japanese Psychological Research doi: 10.1111/jpr.

12564
2024

Unleashing Leaders’ Innovative Work Behavior in Energy

Company: The Role of Business Acumen and
Innovative Self-Efficacy

DIDIK ISWAHYUDI* and ARUM ETIKARIENA University of Indonesia

Abstract: Innovation is crucial for the sustainability of a company, hence innovative

work behavior among its members, including leaders, is key. It is posited that an individ-
ual’s comprehension of the various business dimensions of their job can lead them to
exhibit innovative work behavior. Previous research indicates that innovative self-
efficacy is a strong predictor of such behavior. This study aims to examine the role of
innovative self-efficacy in mediating the effect of business acumen on innovative work
behavior. Participants in this study were leaders at PT A, the company in the energy sec-
tor that is also tasked with overseeing the energy transition in Indonesia (n = 244). The
result shows that innovative self-efficacy partially mediates the effect of business acu-
men on innovative work behavior. These findings can provide alternative directions for
developing more precise innovation-oriented leadership preparation programs.
Key words: innovative work behavior, business acumen, innovative self-efficacy,
leader.

In the rapidly changing landscape of the busi- employees in performing innovative behavior
ness world, companies are compelled to contin- as members of the company. Therefore, innova-
uously develop new products and services to tive behavior is crucial for the success of the
meet the needs of their customers (Jaiswal & company (Jaiswal & Dhar, 2015). Montani
Dhar, 2015). This underscores the necessity for et al. (2017) also state that the innovative work
innovation as a key to sustaining their opera- behavior of employees is the answer to innova-
tions in a dynamic and highly competitive envi- tion and the competitive advantage of enduring
ronment (Usmanova et al., 2021). Innovation companies.
is also essential for the improvement of organi-
zational performance (I. Ullah, Mirza, & Leaders and Innovative Work Behavior
Jamil, 2021; Y. Ullah, Ullah, & Jan, 2021), which In this modern era, employees’ innovative work
leads to the business growth of companies (Liu behavior is critical to driving organizational
et al., 2020). Moreover, through innovation, growth and performance (Aboobaker
organizations can more easily overcome chal- et al., 2022). Innovative work behavior is
lenges, endure, and evolve (Carmelli defined as the creation, introduction, and imple-
et al., 2006; Van den Ven, 1986). mentation of new ideas within job roles, groups,
The emergence of innovation within a com- or organizations intended to improve the per-
pany cannot be separated from the role of formance of roles, groups, or organizations

*Correspondence concerning this article should be sent to: Didik Iswahyudi, Faculty of Psychology, University of
Indonesia, Depok, Indonesia. (E-mail: [email protected])

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2 D. Iswahyudi and A. Etikariena

(Janssen, 2000). This definition addresses three (Wahab et al., 2024), ethical leadership (Asif
distinct stages of behavior in innovative work et al., 2023), empowering leadership (Yadav
behavior (Scott & Bruce, 1994): idea generation et al., 2023), and transformational leadership
(the production of new and useful ideas in vari- (Afsar & Umrani, 2019; Choi et al., 2016). In
ous domains), idea promotion (introducing the other words, modern studies have now revealed
idea to others in order to seek support), and leadership as an important aspect in facilitating
idea realization (the development of an innova- innovative work behavior. We argue that there
tion model that can be applied to the job). are internal characteristics for a leader to
An individual may engage in a combination exhibit that can lead to innovative work behav-
of these stages of innovative work behavior at ior regardless of their leadership styles. There-
any given time (Scott & Bruce, 1994). Although fore, innovative work behavior demonstrated
divided into three stages, innovative work by leaders is expected to drive sustainable
behavior is empirically a unidimensional con- innovation.
struct due to the high correlation among these
different stages (Janssen, 2000; Scott & Business Acumen
Bruce, 1994). Competencies have been found to predict a per-
Previous studies have identified various pre- son’s innovative work behavior in previous
dictors of innovative work behavior, both inter- studies (Aris et al., 2019; Rana & Shuja, 2022;
nal (such as personality type, Woods et al., 2017; Sary et al., 2023). Competencies according to
autonomous motivation, Saether, 2019; organi- Boyatzis (1982) are the underlying characteris-
zational memory, Etikariena & Muluk, 2014; tics of an employee (motives, traits, skills, self-
psychological empowerment, Prabowo image, social roles, or knowledge) that result
et al., 2018; and competencies, Nurhayati in effective and/or superior performance. This
et al., 2023) and external (such as innovation cli- research seeks to facilitate business acumen as
mate, Afsar & Umrani, 2019, and knowledge a competency in the form of knowledge.
sharing, Islam et al., 2022). Haines (2019) mentions that “business acu-
In the context of innovation, previous studies men” is the term used to describe a person’s
have revealed that support and involvement understanding of various dimensions of a busi-
from top management are critical in promoting ness that are “in play” as situations arise. It
innovation and innovative work behavior requires adequate knowledge of market, eco-
(Amabile et al., 2004; Javed et al., 2017) and nomics, and finance. It also encourages people
the innovation strategy in companies to solve problems, make decisions, and contrib-
(De Jong & Den Hartog, 2005). On the other ute to positive business outcomes. Business acu-
hand, leaders bear a significant responsibility men is considered an important professional
in navigating various challenges and opportuni- competency across all work sectors by gradu-
ties (Kirkpatrick & Locke, 1991). A leader is ates of master’s in industrial and organizational
also expected to be a creative strategic planner, psychology (Shoenfelt, 2021). Furthermore,
with all their actions considering internal and business acumen has been identified as a crucial
external environments and other possibilities competency in the private sector environment
(Bouhali et al., 2015). Furthermore, Kozioł- (Darling & Cunningham, 2016).
Nadolna (2020) suggests that leaders should be However, the term “business acumen” is not
foremost in stimulating innovation as an exam- commonly found in psychological research liter-
ple in fostering employee creativity and reward- ature (Anso, 1999). A search for “business acu-
ing innovative behavior of their employees. men” on the Scopus page up to March 2024
Various leadership styles have been yielded 481 results, with only 13 documents
investigated for their positive impact on innova- related to the field of psychology, including
tive work behavior, such as inclusive leadership books, book chapters, articles, notes, and con-
(Javed et al., 2017; Javed et al., 2021; Wahab ference papers. Among these 13 documents,
et al., 2024), ambidextrous leadership no study has yet been found that links business

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Innovative work behavior, business acumen, innovative self-efficacy 3

acumen with positive concrete behavior in the commonly known as modeling behavior. Then,
workplace. This may be because “business acu- verbal persuasion is an attempt to influence
men” is a term more popular among practi- one’s behavior, usually through direction and
tioners/HR management consulting firms (for suggestion. Physiological/emotional arousal
example, it is often a requirement or demanded can affect self-efficacy; for example, when envi-
managerial competency to be possessed by ronmental situations are threatening and stress-
employees in companies). Therefore, ful, individuals may not be able to develop their
addressing the topic of business acumen can self-efficacy.
provide novelty and theoretical contribution in According to previous studies, individuals
the field of psychology, especially in research with greater levels of self-efficacy try to improve
related to its relationship with innovative work work procedures, take risks on difficult tasks,
behavior. In other words, it is hypothesized that and engage in innovative work behavior
an employee’s reflection on their understanding (Hsiao et al., 2011; Uppathampracha &
of various business dimensions in job situations Liu, 2022; Zahra et al., 2017). Dörner (2012)
will lead them to perform innovative work found that innovative self-efficacy is a strong
behavior. predictor of the emergence of innovative work
behavior. Innovative self-efficacy is an
Business Acumen, Innovative Self- individual’s belief in their capability to produce
Efficacy, and Innovative Work Behavior innovative outcomes (Dörner, 2012). Innova-
Within the framework of social cognitive the- tive self-efficacy applies to an innovation-
ory, Bandura (1977) explains that in performing specific context, and differs from self-efficacy
a behavior, an individual considers two types of generally, which reflects an unspecified compe-
expectations: outcome expectation tence belief across a wide variety of situations
(an individual’s anticipation that their behavior (Chen et al., 2004). Dörner (2012) explains that
will lead to certain outcomes) and efficacy employees were more innovative when they
expectation (an individual’s belief in their abil- rated themselves as efficacious in innovating.
ity to successfully perform behaviors that pro- Ma et al. (2016) found that innovative self-
duce specific outcomes). “Self-efficacy” is efficacy has a positive impact on innovative
further defined by Bandura (1986) as an individ- work behavior and plays a mediating role in
ual’s assessment of their capabilities to achieve linking person–organization fit with innovative
a certain level of performance. Individuals who work behavior. Furthermore, Putri and
believe that a particular task or situation is Etikariena (2022) showed that innovative self-
beyond their capabilities will likely avoid efficacy had a mediating effect on the interac-
it. Conversely, if their self-efficacy is high, they tion between knowledge-sharing behavior and
will believe that they can succeed and are more innovative work behavior. From Dörner
likely to take on and complete the task. (2012), Ma et al. (2016), and Putri and
Bandura (1977, 1986) states that a person Etikariena (2022), there is evidence that inno-
develops self-efficacy beliefs by processing vative self-efficacy is more representative to
information from four main sources of efficacy explain innovative work behavior.
influence: performance accomplishment/ We hypothesized that business acumen could
enactive attainment, vicarious experience, ver- be a potential antecedent of innovative self-
bal persuasion, and physiological/emotional efficacy, as suggested by Dörner (2012) in her
arousal. Performance accomplishment is one research directions. At this point, an individual’s
of the most influential sources of self-efficacy mastery of business acumen as reflected based
because it is based on the authentic evidence on their work experience can be perceived as
of success or mastery from an individual’s expe- enactive attainment (Bandura, 1986) or perfor-
rience. Furthermore, vicarious experience mance accomplishments (Bandura, 1977), which
involves comparing individuals with the experi- refers to the achievements an individual pos-
ences of others/social environment or sesses. Subsequently, they will form a judgment

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4 D. Iswahyudi and A. Etikariena

of their innovative self-efficacy that would guide proportionate sampling of stratified. This tech-
their initial decision to engage in innovative work nique involves selecting several groups from
behavior, the level of persistence and effort when the population based on classification and ran-
facing difficulties, and the use of effective compe- domization, with the number assigned to each
tencies to elicit innovative work behavior. classification (stratum) being proportional as
Referring to Shrout and Bolger (2002), test- the representation of strata in the population
ing the model can be conducted, even if the rela- (Iliyasu & Etikan, 2021). The strata used are
tionship of business acumen with innovative levels of position. Once we had an accurate
work behavior is not yet known. Therefore, this number of populations, we set a feasible target
research aims to test the mediating role of inno- of 500 samples so that the final valid data results
vative self-efficacy in the impact of business acu- could meet the minimum requirement of
men on innovative work behavior. G*Power calculation (175). Each stratum was
calculated as a percentage of its proportion
based on the total population. These percent-
ages helped to determine the target sample size
Method
for each stratum. Every individual within the
Ethics Information and Participants stratum was assigned a number for further ran-
This research received ethical clearance from domization using a random-number generator
Universitas Indonesia (025/FPsi.Komite Etik/ on the internet. Next, we collected data for all
PDP.04.00/2023). The study was conducted on samples selected from the randomization to be
PT A, one of Indonesia’s large companies followed up through a formal letter inviting
engaged in the field of electrical energy and research participation and an email to
the company responsible for the national participants.
energy transition. The CEO of PT A subse- The actual number of participants in this study
quently translated this challenge into the comp- was 341 individuals, but only 244 data were valid
any’s strategic plan and the Net Zero Emission from the attention checker item (age:
2060 project roadmap, which PT A M = 44.34 years, SD = 5.51 years, and work ten-
implemented from 2021 until 2060 ure: M = 18.77 years, SD = 6.41 years), with
(Aristi, 2022). This requires the leaders at PT 83.20% of the participants male. All participants
A to introduce many breakthroughs and inno- are Indonesian (Table 1).
vations as managers of the company’s transfor-
mation agenda in realizing the program. Measures
The population in this study consisted of Each scale in this study has received approval
leaders at PT A, who had at least a lower/first- for use from the original authors. The Innova-
line management level. This is in consideration tive Work Behavior Scale has been adapted in
of the PT A Competency Directory (PT A, Indonesian by Etikariena and Muluk (2014).
2021), which requires business acumen as a The Business Acumen Scale and Innovative
competency requirement for leadership posi- Self-Efficacy Scale were adapted referring to
tions at least at the first-line management level. Beaton et al. (2000). First, researchers con-
Therefore, measuring business acumen in this ducted forward translation of scales from
study becomes relevant. English to Indonesian through a formal transla-
Informed consent was obtained before partic- tion agency. Next, the researcher conducted an
ipants filled out the research questionnaire. internal peer review to identify and make some
Based on G*Power calculations (Faul wording adjustments that may not be familiar
et al., 2007), with an F-test linear multiple and tend to be difficult to understand for the tar-
regression: fixed model, α = .05, 1–β = .95, get participants. Then, the researcher followed
f2 = .09, and two predictors, the minimum sam- up the review results by translating the scales
ple size required is 175 individuals. The sam- back into the original language through a differ-
pling technique used in this study is ent formal translation agency to ensure

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Innovative work behavior, business acumen, innovative self-efficacy 5

Table 1 job” or, in Bahasa, “Mencari metode kerja yang

Demographic characteristics of the baru di pekerjaan saya.”
sample (n = 244)
Aspect n (%)
Innovative self-efficacy. The Innovative
Sex Self-Efficacy Scale was translated from Dörn-
Male 203 (83.2) er’s (2012) study, which has nine items with
Female 41 (16.8)
5-point Likert-type scales (strongly disagree–
Age (M  SD) 44.34  5.51
31–40 years 56 (23.0) strongly agree) with a Cronbach’s alpha value
41–50 years 141 (57.7) of α = .85. To reduce central tendency bias
51–56 years 47 (19.3) (Douven, 2018), the researcher rescaled the
Level of education instrument to 6-point Likert-type scales and
High school 1 (.41) pre-tested it with a reliability of α = .96. Partic-
Associate degree 14 (5.73)
ipants were asked to reflect on the extent to
Bachelor degree 171 (70.08)
Master degree 58 (23.78)
which they agreed with the items describing
Level of position themselves (Strongly disagree = 1, Strongly
Top management (board of 8 (3.3) agree = 6). In this study, the reliability of the
directors minus one/BOD – 1) innovative self-efficacy measure was α = .92.
Middle management (BOD – 2) 43 (17.6) The sample item is, “I feel that I am good at gen-
Lower/first-line management 193 (79.1) erating novel ideas” or, in Bahasa, “Saya merasa
(BOD – 3)
bisa menghasilkan berbagai ide baru.”
Work unit
Head office 62 (25.4)
Holding units 117 (48.0)
Sub-holding units/subsidiaries 65 (26.6)
Business acumen. The Business Acumen
Work tenure (M  SD) 18.77  6.41 Scale used in this study is a translation of the
1–10 years 7 (2.87) scale by Haines (2019), which has 38 items with
11–20 years 175 (71.72) 4-point Likert-type scales (Limited = 1, Con-
21–30 years 50 (20.49) sistent = 4) and has been previously adapted
>30 years 12 (4.92) and tested with a reliability of α = .96. Partici-
pants were asked to reflect on how consistently
they apply the abilities and skills contained in
accuracy. Afterward, the researcher applied for the items to their work. In this study, the
expert judgment and finalized the scales. business-acumen-measuring instrument had a
Finally, the researcher tested the scales on Cronbach’s alpha value of α = .96. The sample
32 individuals from the population with a conve- item is, “I set goals and plan the work to be done
nience sampling technique. to meet those goals” or, in Bahasa, “Saya men-
entukan tujuan-tujuan dan merencanakan
pekerjaan yang perlu dilakukan untuk mencapai
Innovative work behavior. Innovative tujuan-tujuan tersebut.”
work behavior was measured using the Innova-
tive Work Behavior Scale (Etikariena &
Muluk, 2014), which has nine items. Participants Attention check item. One item that serves
were asked to perceive how often they dis- to avoid careless responding (Shamon &
played the behaviors mentioned when per- Berning, 2020) was used in the middle of the
forming tasks during this time (Never do = 1, questionnaire as the researcher’s effort to
Always do = 6). The Cronbach’s alpha value improve data quality. The item was, “Please
of the scale in that study was α = .88. In this choose the option in the Limited category or
study, the reliability of the Innovative Work Number 1” or, in Bahasa, “Silakan Bapak/Ibu
Behavior Scale was α = .96. The example item untuk memilih pilihan pada kategori ‘Terbatas’
is “Looking for new working methods in my atau Angka ‘1’.”

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6 D. Iswahyudi and A. Etikariena

Procedures could be forwarded to target participants. Addi-

The study employed a non-experimental corre- tionally, the researcher executed an email blast
lational approach. Correlational studies aim to to target participants four times: at the begin-
identify the presence of a relationship, associa- ning of information dissemination, after 1 week,
tion, or interdependence between two or more after 2 weeks, and after 3 weeks during the
aspects of a situation (Kumar, 2011). A cross- research period from July 20 to August 31, 2023.
sectional design was utilized, which is most suit-
able for studies aiming to find the prevalence of Statistical Analysis
a phenomenon, situation, problem, attitude, or Data processing in this study used Microsoft
issue by sampling across a population. More- Excel and SPSS applications. The analysis tech-
over, this design is useful for obtaining an over- nique in testing the hypothesis that will be used
view in a single execution (Kumar, 2011). Data in this study is a simple mediation model and is
collection was conducted using the Indonesian carried out with the PROCESS Version 3.5
questionnaire with an online platform hosted macro. Mediation analysis is a statistical method
on a university domain (http://survey.ui.ac.id). used to evaluate evidence from studies designed
The questionnaire was sent via email to target to test hypotheses about how some causal ante-
participants. cedent variables transmit their effects on conse-
Prior to data collection, the researcher sub- quence variables (Hayes, 2018). In this study,
mitted a request to PT A through a letter from Hayes’s model 4 was used to test the role of
the Vice Dean of Education, Research, and Stu- innovative self-efficacy as a mediator for the
dent Affairs of the Faculty of Psychology, Uni- effect of business acumen on innovative work
versitas Indonesia (S-763/UN2.F8.WD/ behavior. For statistical significance criteria,
PDP.04.02/2023). Subsequently, this request researchers use the 95% confidence interval
was followed up with a cover letter for the (CI) generated by the bias-corrected bootstrap
research targeted at participants and signed by method up to 5,000 repetitions.
the Executive Vice President of Talent Devel-
opment at PT A (43,247/SDM.07.02/EVP
HTD/2023, 40220/SDM.07.02/F01080200/2023,
Results
and 40,224/SDM.07.02/F01080200/2023). The
letter included information on: (a) the purpose Descriptive Statistics and Bivariate
and background of data collection; (b) the Correlational Analysis
researcher’s commitment to protect participants Before conducting the mediation analysis, the
(the research is voluntary, anonymous, data researchers presented descriptive and bivariate
processing will be collective, and will not affect correlation analyses (see Table 2). Descriptive
performance assessments or career progres- statistics for the three main variables are as fol-
sion); (c) the questionnaire link, token code lows: business acumen (M = 125.3, SD = 14.9),
for filling it out, and the average duration of innovative self-efficacy (M = 46.4, SD = 4.6),
completion; (d) a research reward in the form and innovative work behavior
of a webinar on “Recognizing Children’s Inter- (M = 39.7, SD = 9.2).
ests and Talents: Discover Their Uniqueness” Business acumen was significantly correlated
to increase participant motivation and earnest- with innovative work behavior (r = .68,
ness; (e) contact information for the researcher p < .01) and innovative self-efficacy (r = .58,
and supervisor; and (f) an appendix listing ran- p < .01). A significant correlation was also
domly selected target participants to found between innovative work behavior and
participate. innovative self-efficacy (r = .53, p < .01). In
The researcher contacted HR managers at addition, there was a significant negative corre-
the Head Office, Units, and Subsidiaries/Sub lation between innovative work behavior and
Holdings of PT A to ensure that the research- work tenure (r = −.14, p < .05). Furthermore,
related information had been received and there was no significant correlation between

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Innovative work behavior, business acumen, innovative self-efficacy 7

Table 2
Descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations (n = 244)
Variable M (SD) 1 2 3 4

1. Innovative work behavior 39.7 (9.2) -

2. Innovative self-efficacy 46.4 (4.6) .530** -
3. Business acumen 125.3 (14.9) .683** .580** -
4. Age (years) 44.34 (5.51) .221 .009 .099 -
5. Work tenure (years) 18.77 (6.41) −.137* −.023 .066 .853**

** p < .01, * p < .05.

employee age and the three main variables of total effect of the model at β = .68 (95% CI
this study. [.36, .48]), where the indirect effect was β = .12
(95% CI [.05, .18]). These calculations indicate
Mediation Analysis evidence that the research hypothesis is
The hypothesis proposed in this study is that accepted. Figure 1 shows the mediating role of
business acumen influences innovative work innovative self-efficacy in the influence of busi-
behavior, mediated by innovative self-efficacy. ness acumen on innovative work behavior in
The hypothesis testing was conducted to exam- the model (Table 3).
ine if the role of the predictor variable on the
criterion variable is significant using a mediator
variable.
Discussion and Conclusion
The analysis results found a positive and sig-
nificant effect of business acumen on innovative The current study aimed to examine the mediat-
self-efficacy (β = .58, 95% CI [.15, .21]) and ing role of innovative self-efficacy in the effect
innovative work behavior (β = .57, 95% CI of business acumen on innovative work behav-
[.28, .42]). Researchers also found that innova- ior among 244 leaders in an energy company.
tive self-efficacy significantly positively affects The argument by Shrout and Bolger (2002)
innovative work behavior (β = .20, 95% CI and the use of the PROCESS macro model
[.18, .63]). Furthermore, through mediation 4 (Hayes, 2018) enabled the researchers to test
analysis, the researchers revealed a significant the research hypothesis in this study. The result

Figure 1
The mediating role of innovative self-efficacy on the effect of business acumen on innovative work behavior.

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8 D. Iswahyudi and A. Etikariena

Table 3
The relationship between business acumen, innovative self-efficacy, and innovative work behavior
in the mediation model (model 4 of PROCESS macro; n = 244)
Explained variables

Innovative self-efficacy Innovative work behavior

β (SE) β (SE)

1. Constant 24.10*** (2.03) −22.72*** (4.49)

2. Business acumen .58*** (0.02) .57*** (0.03)
3. Innovative self-efficacy .20*** (0.11)
R2 .34 .49
F(df ) F(1, 242) = 122.88*** F(2, 241) = 117.10***

*** p < .001.

indicated that innovative self-efficacy could Another interesting finding is that business
mediate the influence of business acumen on acumen has a direct positive effect on innova-
innovative work behavior. tive work behavior. This indicates that the medi-
One of our findings suggests that innovative ating effect provided by innovative self-efficacy
self-efficacy can be a mechanism underlying is partial because business acumen can directly
the link between business acumen and innova- predict innovative work behavior. Linked with
tive work behavior. This means, referring to the definition of business acumen from Haines
the social cognitive theory, that the business (2019), if a leader understands many business
acumen possessed by a leader constitutes a form dimensions in their work situation, it certainly
of enactive attainment (Bandura, 1986) or per- benefits them to directly exhibit innovative
formance accomplishments (Bandura, 1977) work behavior in their areas of expertise at
that can elicit their innovative self-efficacy. any stage, without the need to be based on their
Thus, innovative self-efficacy would guide their belief in their ability to create innovative out-
initial decision to engage in innovative work comes. This suggests that while innovative self-
behavior, the level of persistence and effort efficacy enriches the pathway through which
when facing difficulties, and the use of effective business acumen affects innovative work behav-
competency (in this context, the business acu- ior, business acumen itself directly equips
men they already had) to perform innovative leaders with the knowledge and insight neces-
work behavior. This finding supports previous sary to innovate, underscoring the complexity
studies (Dörner, 2012; Ma et al., 2016; Putri & of factors that drive innovation within organiza-
Etikariena, 2022) that revealed innovative self- tions. In addition, this study presents theoretical
efficacy is a predictor of innovative work behav- contributions and novelty through business acu-
ior. This result also adds theoretical support to men variables that are more popular among
the role of innovative self-efficacy as a mediator practitioners so that research related to business
in the influence of related variables on innova- acumen can be carried out to further develop
tive work behavior, as demonstrated in the and popularize business acumen in scientific
study by Ma et al. (2016) and Putri and discussions.
Etikariena (2022). Therefore, the current inves- Overall, this study demonstrates that innova-
tigation enriches the scope of the self-efficacy tive self-efficacy can mediate the effect of busi-
concept in the organizational context, especially ness acumen on innovative work behavior
in a leader’s innovative work behavior in an among leaders in an energy company. However,
energy company and also extends the literature the mediation effect found is only partial. This is
that social cognitive theory can describe the because the direct effect is stronger than the
relationship between variables. indirect effect through mediation. Given that

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Innovative work behavior, business acumen, innovative self-efficacy 9

the mediation is partial, the presence or absence applied to non-leader position levels or in other
of the mediator variable will still have an effect, sectors and different core businesses. Another
meaning that business acumen can directly limitation was that this research was conducted
influence innovative work behavior even with- in a developing country; a comparative study
out going through an individual’s innovative between countries/cultures may be fruitful to
self-efficacy. Furthermore, this study can pro- increase the generalizability of research. Fur-
vide practical contributions. Through these thermore, this study focuses on examining the
results, companies are encouraged to prepare effect of a person’s internal factors (business
their leaders to actively exhibit innovative work acumen and innovative self-efficacy) on innova-
behavior by supporting leaders and consistently tive work behavior. Future research is expected
providing opportunities to strengthen their to involve external factors and outcome mea-
business acumen. For example, this could be sures at work/company in the research model.
facilitated through horizontal career explora-
tion, allowing leaders to gain understanding
and business perspectives from various depart-
ments/fields within the company. Additionally, Acknowledgments
companies should encourage their leaders to
The authors would like to thank Steven Haines,
confidently face challenges through innovation,
Nadin Dörner, Dedi Budi Utomo, Sofaz Genial
which can be translated into measurable and
Zeni, Wildan Habibi, and all participants at PT
evaluable performance targets. The results in
A involved in this study.
this study also provide a practical contribution
for PT A, which was used as the research popu-
lation. The research model offers an alternative
talent management model for the regeneration Conflict of Interest
development system in the company consider-
ing that several previous studies have tried to The authors declare no conflicts of interest asso-
explore other talent management models ciated with this manuscript.
(Anlesinya & Amponsah-Tawiah, 2020;
Mahfoozi et al., 2018; Oehley, 2007). PT A can
develop a talent management prediction model References
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bs12080266 (Received March 29, 2024; accepted August 6, 2024)

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