Impact of transformational leadership on the diffusion of innovation in firms: Application to mobile cloud computing

Leadership is a key determinant for organizations to adopt innovation successfully. However, research has not explored the leadership components that impact adoption stages (initiation, adoption, and routinization). In this work, we develop and empirically test a model based on both the transformational leadership components and the stages of the diffusion of innovation theory, using PLS methods and drawing on data from 154 firms, to study the adoption of a new technology, mobile cloud computing (MCC). Components such as vision, intellectual stimulation, supportive leadership, and personal recognition are significant for the intention to adopt, while supportive leadership is a driver for both adoption and routinization. The results of our study show that leaders' vision, combined with the capacity to consider others' feelings and recognize others' personal needs (both indicators of providing individual support), are strongly related with the adoption of an important IS innovation such as MCC. The present study shows that it is relevant to understand the influence of the leadership component separately on the diffusion of an innovation, rather than to keep them as just one all-encompassing construct. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to address the adoption of MCC in firms. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.