Situational Causal Model Between LMX, Empowerment and Innovation Behavior

The composition of human resources in industrial sites is becoming global. In Korea, too, the proportion of foreign members in all industrial fields and production sites is increasing. This is the reason why an approach that reflects this reality is needed in the basic unit of competitive sources. Competitiveness starts with value creation, and this progresses through field innovation. Through empirical analysis of this study, it was analyzed that South Korea members showed active actions and attitudes in developing, promoting, and realizing ideas when they strongly recognized the real meaning of empowerment given by leaders. On the other hand, it was found that foreign members do not know the meaning of empowerment itself, so they are often unable to play an active role in the development, promotion, and realization of ideas. In fact, it was analyzed that foreign members generally did not experience positive interactions with LMX and were exposed to simple tasks and controls. In other words, they are being discriminated against in terms of communication problems, compensation system, and work environment. In particular, this phenomenon is exacerbated in the case of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Situational response to foreign workers through improvement of LMX and empowerment should be evaluated as a key management task in a situation where productivity improvement and job unit innovation are urgently needed.