Linking CEO relationship-focused leadership and corporate entrepreneurship: a multilevel moderated mediation model

PurposeCorporate entrepreneurship is an important way for organizations to gain competitive advantages and achieve sustainable development. However, few studies pay attention to the influence of CEO strategic leadership on corporate entrepreneurship. Drawing on social identity theory and uncertainty-identity theory, this study aims to investigate whether CEO relationship-focused leadership impacts corporate entrepreneurship through middle managers’ (MMs’) organizational identification and whether the indirect effect is moderated by environmental uncertainty.Design/methodology/approachUsing 192 Chinese samples with 192 firm-level and 716 department-level observations, this study uses multilevel structural equations modeling by Mplus 8.0 to test the theoretical model.FindingsThis study finds that CEO relationship-focused leadership positively predicts MMs’ organizational identification and corporate entrepreneurship, and MMs’ organizational identification mediates the relationship between CEO relationship-focused leadership and corporate entrepreneurship. In addition, environmental uncertainty moderates not only the relationship between CEO relationship-focused leadership and MMs’ organizational identification but also the indirect effect of CEO relationship-focused leadership on corporate entrepreneurship through MMs’ organizational identification.Research limitations/implicationsThis study enriches the understanding of process and contextualization of CEO strategic leadership influencing on corporate entrepreneurship.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first to explore the influence of CEO relationship-focused leadership on corporate entrepreneurship.