Impact of passive leadership on intrapreneurial behavior

A case study from the employee perspective

Sofie Bergman and Vanessa Williamsson

Stockholm Business School Bachelor’s degree thesis 15 HE credits Business Administration: Management Spring term 2020 Supervisor: Thomas Bay

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Abstract

Utilizing individuals that are creative, risk taking and innovative could be the key to

organizational success in our rapidly changing world. It is argued by many that intrapreneurs

are the source of financial growth and profitability, an important source for organizations to

stay competitive in a dynamically evolving business landscape. Despite that, the field of

intrapreneurship is an overall under researched area where the point of view from the

intrapreneurs has been neglected, as well as how leadership affects these individuals. To

investigate more on the phenomena of intrapreneurship would contribute both to extent

research, as well as give practical advice to management leading intrapreneurs. Therefore, this

thesis intends to further extend the knowledge about how a destructive leadership could impact

intrapreneurial behavior with the research question: How does passive leadership impact

intrapreneurial behavior? In order to contribute with a discussion regarding this, a qualitative

case study has been conducted where the employee perspective has been central. The objective

of study is intrapreneurs from different organizations and positions. The data collected have

been analyzed with the guidance of a theoretical ground and then been discussed in relation to

the nature of passive leaders. The result from the study implies that intrapreneurial behavior is

negatively impacted by passive leadership but it was also evident that the problem is complex

and recommendations on further research have been presented. In conclusion, this research has

found interesting insights regarding the relation between passive leadership and intrapreneurial

behavior and has contributed to overlooked areas in the field of intrapreneurship as well as

leadership.

Keywords: Intrapreneurship, intrapreneurial behavior, passive leadership, incivility

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Table of Contents

ABSTRACT II 1. INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 BACKGROUND 1 1.2 RESEARCH QUESTION 3 1.3 INTENDED CONTRIBUTION 4 1.4 OBJECT OF STUDY 4

2. LITERATURE REVIEW 6 2.1 INTRODUCTION 6 2.2 THE CONCEPT OF INTRAPRENEURSHIP 6 2.3 BENEFITS OF INTRAPRENEURSHIP 7 2.4 PREREQUISITES FOR INTRAPRENEURIAL BEHAVIOR 7 2.5 LEADERSHIP AND INTRAPRENEURS 9 2.6 PASSIVE LEADERSHIP 10 2.7 INCIVILITY 10 2.8 INCIVILITY AS AN EFFECT OF PASSIVE LEADERSHIP 11 2.9 TRUST ISSUES AS AN EFFECT OF PASSIVE LEADERSHIP 12 2.10 SUMMARY 12

3. RESEARCH DESIGN 14 3.1 RESEARCH QUESTION AND PURPOSE 14 3.2 RESEARCH STRATEGY 14 3.3 OPERATIONALIZATION OF THE RESEARCH QUESTION 16 3.4 CASE STUDY 16

3.4.1 Data collection 17 3.4.2 Sampling and sample size 17 3.4.3 Interview process 19

3.5 TRUSTWORTHINESS AND AUTHENTICITY 20 3.6 RESEARCH ETHICS 20

4. ANALYSIS 22 4.1 INTRODUCTION 22 4.2 METHOD OF ANALYSIS 22 4.3 ANALYSIS OF THE DATA 26

4.3.1 Intrapreneurial behavior 26 4.3.2 Enhances Intrapreneurial behavior 27

4.3.2.1 Leadership: attributes, support and relationship 28 4.3.2.2 Environment 32

4.3.3 Inhibits Intrapreneurial behavior 35 4.3.3.1 Leadership: attributes, lack of support, and relationship 35 4.3.3.2 Incivility 37

5. DISCUSSION 39 6. CONCLUSION AND FURTHER RESEARCH 42 7. CRITICAL CONSIDERATIONS AND LIMITATIONS 44 8. REFERENCE LIST 45 9. APPENDICES 49

9.1. APPENDIX 1: INTERVIEW FORMALITIES 49 a) Study Information Sheet 49 b) Consent form 50 c) Interview guide 51

9.2. APPENDIX 2: TABLE FOR EXTRACTED QUOTES 52

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1. Introduction

1.1 Background “The Macintosh team was what is commonly known now as intrapreneurship—only a few years

before the term was coined—a group of people going in essence back to the garage, but in a

large company." - Steve Jobs (Newsweek, 1985)

A sub-field of entrepreneurial research called intrapreneurship has been a popular topic within

management studies since the beginning of the 1980s. Gifford Pinchot III (1985) defined the

intrapreneurs as “the dreamers who do. Those who take hands-on responsibility for creating an

innovation of any kind within an organization” (p. ix). Easier described, an intrapreneur is an

entrepreneur within an existing organization (Antoncic & Hisrich, 2003). In contrast

entrepreneurs are people who develop new ventures outside an existing organization (Parker,

2011).

Intrapreneurs are nowadays highly sought after in many businesses, since they help

organizations to be on the front edge of innovation in their respective field. Successful

companies are the ones that have the ability to find, develop and retain intrapreneurs (Buekens,

2014). Zahra and Covin (1995) argue that intrapreneurship is also beneficial financially for the

organization and important for growth in the long term. Govindarajan and Desai (2013) argue

that:

“Intrapreneurs can transform an organization more quickly and effectively than others

because they are self-motivated freethinkers, masters at navigating around bureaucratic and

political inertia.”

One example of a management who failed to utilize intrapreneurship within the organization,

was when an engineer named Steven Sasson who worked at Kodak created the first ever digital

camera. Instead of taking this opportunity to be innovative the management instead told Steven

to keep the invention quiet as they saw it as a threat. Many years later Kodak filed for

bankruptcy for not being able to meet the digital era, among other things (Daykin, 2019). This

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is just one example of why intrapreneurship has become such an important part of organizations

in recent years, especially with the fast paced digital world.

In regard to extant research of intrapreneurship Andersson and Pearson (1999) mention that

previous research has focused on the factors that can enhance intrapreneurship but overlooked

factors that can inhibit intrapreneurship. Furthermore, Yariv and Galit (2017) suggest that future

research should look at the viewpoint of the employee’s perspective when it comes to

intrapreneurial behavior, since earlier research has tended to focus on the management’s

perspective. As there are factors in the field of intrapreneurship that, up to date, have been

overlooked, the intention of this thesis is to further investigate the nature of intrapreneurial

behavior in order to extend the extant research.

1.2 Problematization

Intrapreneurial behavior is characterized by creativeness, proactiveness and the ability to create

new inventions and recognize opportunities (Neessen, Caniëls, Vos, & de Jong, 2019). In our

rapidly changing world with significant pressure on competitiveness with keeping up with new

demands and technological trends, intrapreneurship is said to be the answer (Covin & Slevin,

1991).

In order for intrapreneurial behavior to occur Yariv and Galit (2017) argue that organizational

support, including tolerance for risk and managerial support, is necessary. From a study they

conducted it was proven that the relation between organizational support and intrapreneurial

behavior is positively correlated. Marvel, Griffin, Hebda, and Vojak (2007) also address the

importance of receiving management support such as promoting and facilitating

intrapreneurship in order for employees to behave intrapreneurial. Marvel et al. (2007)

conducted a study where the general opinion expressed was that more interaction and

involvement from management is always better than less. Characteristics such as exploring new

opportunities and being innovative are dependent on the managers and the leadership within

the organization (Moriano, Molero, Topa, & Lévy Mangin, 2011).

The point of view from the individual intrapreneur has been neglected and several researchers

stress the need for conducting research with the individuals in focus (Yariv & Galit, 2017;

Neessen et al., 2019). Yariv and Galit (2017) also point out the lack in current research about

what impact the interrelation between the dark and bright sides of interactions may have on

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intrapreneurial behavior. They suggest that by looking at leadership styles in relation to

intrapreneurs it could fill unexplored fields in the area. Furthermore, Andersson and Pearson

(1999) highlight that current research has focused on what enhances intrapreneurship and

factors that may inhibit them are often neglected. Therefore, it comes of relevance to look at

what effect a destructive leadership could have, where the intrapreneurs should be the focus of

the study. The type of leadership that enhances intrapreneurial behavior is brought up

extensively in the field of intrapreneurship research, Moriano et al. (2011) investigated how

different types of leadership relates to intrapreneurial behavior. They conducted a quantitative

study by sending out questionnaires to find out what type of leader the participants had and then

put it in relation to the participant´s level of intrapreneurial behavior. However, the study did

not go in depth with how the individuals were affected by the leadership and the overall focus

was on the type of leadership that enhances intrapreneurial behavior. The effects and

characteristics of passive leadership were not taken into consideration and would thus be of

interest to further investigate, and by doing so with a qualitative study it could reveal more in-

depth results (Merriam 2010).

Therefore, we have specifically looked at the type of destructive leadership called passive

leadership, which is when a leader does not act and acts only when a problem has already

emerged (DeRue, Nahrgang, Wellman, & Humphrey, 2011). The form of destructive leadership

we have investigated is passive leadership as it is under researched and stressed to be of

importance in order to broaden the research field in leadership (Holtz & Hu, 2017). Passive

leadership has also proven to have an effect on incivility and creativity (Harold & Holtz, 2015),

which are relevant factors in intrapreneurship.

Our intention is to further extend the current research by investigating how a passive leadership

can impact intrapreneurial behavior, with a focus from the intrapreneurs perspective. Therefore,

we have conducted a qualitative study in order to get a deeper understanding of the phenomena.

1.2 Research Question The question to guide our discussion regarding leadership in relation to intrapreneurial behavior

is: How does passive leadership impact intrapreneurial behavior?

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1.3 Intended contribution The intended contribution with this study is to extend current research on intrapreneurship by

looking at the phenomena from an overlooked point of view and extending the knowledge about

how destructive leadership affects the intrapreneurial behavior. Our findings could contribute

to the work of Moriano et al. (2011) by extending their findings about leadership in relation to

intrapreneurial behavior. Our intention is to do that by looking more deeply at how passive

leadership acts in relation to intrapreneurial behavior by conducting a qualitative study instead

of a quantitative. This is also suggested by Yariv and Galit (2017) as they concluded in their

study that the interrelation between the dark and bright sides of interactions and its impact on

intrapreneurial behavior has been overlooked. Passive leadership is also suggested by Holtz and

Hu (2017) to be an under researched area and they recommend for more empirical studies about

the concept of passive leadership. By looking at it in relation to intrapreneurs it also extends

their research about passive leadership in relation to trust by investigating how their findings

stand in relation to intrapreneurs. In Yariv and Galit´s (2017) study about how incivility could

affect intrapreneurs they concluded that organizational support is the mediator between

incivility and intrapreneurs. Since leaders facilitate the support in an organization it is of interest

to look further into, and we hope to contribute to their findings by looking at destructive

leadership in relation to intrapreneurs.

The findings in this study could also serve as an empirical contribution to leaders who manage

employees with intrapreneurial behavior and as several researchers state, intrapreneurship is an

efficient way to increase financial performance. Engaging in intrapreneurial behavior can lead

to better performance, more profitability and firm growth (Antoncic & Hisrich, 2003; Zahra &

Covin, 1995; Antoncic & Antoncic, 2011) and should hence be considered as a beneficial

strategy for management to learn more about. As our study focuses on the employee’s

perspective it provides an insight in what is important for the intrapreneurs and how their

behavior could be enhanced as well as inhibited.

1.4 Object of Study The intention is to do a qualitative case study gathering information through document analysis,

data analysis and semi-structured interviews with intrapreneurial employees. We agree with

Antoncic and Hisrich (2003) that intrapreneurs can be found in many different types of

organizations and positions. We have therefore not limited our research to one type of

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organization but rather looked at different employees from several kinds of organizations who

are characterized by intrapreneurial behavior. We have studied employees that are risk-taking,

creative and who take initiative to improve and innovate which are all intrapreneurial attributes.

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2. Literature Review

2.1 Introduction In the following literature review the concept of intrapreneurship will be discussed as well as

the factors that extant research has found to be of importance to intrapreneurial behavior. A

review of the current research on leadership and the effect of passive leadership will be used to

assist in the interpretation of the findings from the case study.

2.2 The Concept of Intrapreneurship Intrapreneurship is defined as a bottom-up approach where employees take advantage of

opportunities by being proactive, innovative and taking risks (Neessen et al., 2019).

Furthermore, Gifford Pinchot III (1985) defined the intrapreneurs as “The dreamers who do.

Those who take hands-on responsibility for creating an innovation of any kind within an

organization” (p. ix). Similarly, Antoncic and Hisrich (2003) argued that intrapreneurs can be

innovative in all kinds of activities such as development of new products, administrative

techniques, services, strategies and more. Antoncic and Hisrich (2003) also use an overall

definition which is that intrapreneurship is entrepreneurship within an existing organization

where the activities in the organization departs from the customary. By integrating the previous

categorizations surrounding the implementation of entrepreneurial concepts in organizations,

Antoncic and Hisrich (2003) concluded that the concept of intrapreneurship can be classified

into eight dimensions. New Ventures; which refers to the creation of new units or firms within

the organization. New Businesses; when entering new businesses related to the current products

or markets the organization are involved in. Product/service innovativeness; refers to the

organization’s engagement of creating new products and services. Process innovativeness;

improving and developing production procedures and techniques. Self-Renewal; the company

reformulates their strategy and initiates organizational change internally. Risk Taking; The

company acknowledges the possibility of loss when taking bold actions, experimenting and

committing resources in the pursuit of new opportunities. Proactiveness; Top management

wants the organization to lead change rather than follow change and does this by seizing market

opportunities. Competitive Aggressiveness; The organization continuously challenges its

competitors and responses to threats (Antonic & Hisrich, 2003).

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2.3 Benefits of Intrapreneurship When now having a clear definition of what intrapreneurship is, the question of why an

organization should engage in intrapreneurship will be addressed. A lot of extant research has

found that engaging in intrapreneurial behavior can lead to better performance, more

profitability and firm growth (Antoncic & Hisrich, 2003; Zahra & Covin, 1995; Antoncic &

Antoncic, 2011). Before the term of intrapreneurship was truly set, some researchers used the

word corporate entrepreneurship. Two researchers that did this were Zahra and Covin (1995),

they also showed that corporate entrepreneurship had a positive effect on financial performance

and that it can keep growing over a longer period of time. By incorporating entrepreneurship

into the corporation, it can serve as a long-time strategy for increasing financial performance

rather than a quick solution just to find a new idea. The recommendations for managerial actions

are to consider the incorporation of entrepreneurship as a tool to enhance financial performance

on a more serious level, as their research shows that it has a significant effect on both growth

and profitability. They also suggest that managers should adopt a long-term perspective when

developing, managing and evaluating the intrapreneurial activities in order to increase the

potential the strategy may have. Key for succeeding with incorporating an entrepreneurial

strategy and to realize the full benefits, is that the managers support the entrepreneurial

initiatives for a longer period of time. The managerial support in this process is very important

and managers are suggested to be willing and able to sustain their support for several years.

Zahra and Covin (1995) also emphasize on the importance of the environment the

entrepreneurial strategy is taking place in and how it can determine how big of an affect the

entrepreneurial behaviors can have.

2.4 Prerequisites for Intrapreneurial Behavior In order for intrapreneurial behavior to exist in employees, organizational support is necessary

and found to have a positive effect on intrapreneurship as well as the internal environment in

the organization (Antoncic & Hisrich, 2001). Alpkan, Bulut, Gunday, Ulusoy, and Kilic (2010)

suggest that managers in an organization where intrapreneurial behavior is crucial, should

invest in actively creating a culture where support and tolerance is eminent to a large extent.

The employees should be confident that they can develop ideas for innovation even though they

are risky, it is important that they know they are listened to and encouraged to act on their ideas,

if they fail they should not be afraid of getting punished. Alpkan et al. (2010) found that fear of

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loneliness and failure are burdens that could inhibit the intrapreneurs in their idea process,

which is why an internal environment with high support and tolerance is important in order to

create innovation. Organizational support could be divided into five factors derived by Alpkan

et al. (2010) which are: Management support, Allocation of free time, Work discretion,

Performance-based reward systems and Tolerance for risk taking. In the study conducted by

Alpkan et al. (2010) it was evident that management support, tolerance for risk and

performance-based reward systems have a positive relation to innovative performance where

tolerance for risk and management support are especially important in relation to intrapreneurs.

The importance of organizational support is also addressed by Yariv and Galit (2017), their

study showed that organizational support is important to inspire employees to behave

intrapreneurial. The level of tolerance for taking risk that the management and the culture

allows, is a crucial factor in order for intrapreneurial behavior to take place in the organization.

In order for the employees to innovate and initiate new projects where the outcome is

impossible to predict they need to be assured that regardless of the outcome, they are secured

by the management (Antonic & Hisrich, 2001). The management has a significant role of

encouraging the employees to intrapreneurial behavior. Marvel et al. (2007) suggest that

enabling communication and providing mechanisms that welcome ideas and allow them to be

further developed and implemented are positively related to intrapreneurship. Furthermore,

Yariv and Galit (2017) also identified that organizational support acts as the mediator between

incivility in the workplace and intrapreneurship.

The intrapreneurs need to have autonomy and the freedom to manage their time and way of

working as well as a decentralized decision-making process, as it will increase intrapreneurial

activities (Lumpkin & Dess, 1996). Freedom to act on an idea or vision is crucial in order for

intrapreneurial behavior to take place in an organization. According to Lumpkin and Dess

(1996) intrapreneurs need to take action free of organizational formalities and constraints. In

order to increase intrapreneurial behavior, Razavi and Ab Aziz (2017) suggest that it is

beneficial for the intrapreneurs to engage in networking, both internal bonding networks and

external bridging networks, where they can get influenced by others.

Duncan, Ginter, Rucks, and Jacobs (1988) address the importance of the individuals in order to

succeed with intrapreneurship. A firm wanting to be intrapreneurial and utilize the individuals

must become organized and build a culture conducive to intrapreneurship. The firm also needs

to have a strategy on how to encourage creative people, and the knowledge on how to implement

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the innovations created into the corporate strategy. Duncan et al. (1988) state that there are two

important problems that organizations have to tackle, firstly, if the companies do not focus

enough resources on developing creative people, it is a strategic problem. Secondly, if they do

not know how to compensate the creative people, it is a tactical problem for the organization.

In order to solve the strategy problem, they suggest four strategic moves: 1. High-level

managers must frequently make public statements about the importance of innovativeness. 2.

When goal-setting systems are used, innovation and creativity must be given high priority. 3.

Reward systems must encourage creativity. 4. Management must realize that creative people

are driven by creation and not competition. For the tactical problem Duncan et al. (1988)

suggest intracapital to motivate intrapreneurs. Intracapital is capital that cannot be used outside

the corporation, it is only created when an innovation has created profits, for example a cost

reduction in the production that would generate profit. A part of this profit is then put towards

the intrapreneurs to come up with more and new innovations. Duncan et al. (1988) also suggest

that companies can compensate the intrapreneurs with stocks and dividends, so when the

organization succeeds the intrapreneur gains resources used outside the company as well.

Despite all of this Duncan et al. (1988) mention that there will always be entrepreneurs that go

their own way, often lonely wolves. However, in this modern day of age entrepreneurs need

resources which are expensive and therefore they need the corporate resources in order to

exercise their creativity.

2.5 Leadership and Intrapreneurs Moriano et al. (2011) investigated how leadership relates to intrapreneurship where

transformative leadership, transactional leadership and passive-avoidant leadership was

examined. Transformational leaders are known for connecting employees’ self-concept to the

interests and goals of the organization which has proven to improve innovativeness and

proactiveness. Transactional leaders create clear structures and roles and the relation to

employees is transactional where the leader controls rewards. Passive-avoidant leaders avoid

specifying agreements, clarifying actions and providing goals and standards. Moriano et al.

(2011) conducted a quantitative study where a questionnaire was sent out to different

individuals in order to determine what type of leadership their leader possessed, this was then

put in relation to the individual's level of intrapreneurial behavior. The result demonstrated that

a transformative leadership relates positively to intrapreneurial behavior, transactional

leadership relates negatively to intrapreneurial behavior and passive-avoidant behavior does not

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relate to intrapreneurial behavior. However, the study did not go in depth how the individuals

were affected by the leadership and the major focus was on transformational leadership. The

effects and characteristics of passive leadership were not taken into consideration or further

investigated.

2.6 Passive Leadership Passive leadership is a type of destructive leadership (Hinkin & Schriesheim, 2008) that

involves a pattern of inaction on the part of a leader (DeRue et al., 2011). Passive leaders are

known for neglecting workplace problems, avoiding decisions and inadequately managing to

represent or reinforce appropriate behavior (Harold & Holtz, 2015). Both laissez-faire

leadership and passive management by exception (MBEP) are included in passive leadership.

MBEP is when the leader does not engage in a problem that does not exist or is not apparent to

the leader (DeRue et al., 2011), whereas laissez-faire leadership is described as a non-response

leadership (Skogstad et al., 2007). Chênevert, Vandenberghe, Doucet, and Ben Ayed (2013)

state that passive leaders are known for not giving feedback to employees and they often lack

proactive orientation and tend to not take action until it is too late. Passive leaders only intervene

when work problems become chronic and are likely to avoid taking actions about work-related

matters. Chênevert et al. (2013) argue that passive leaders could affect the work climate through

poor social relationships with their employees. They also stress that the lack of attention from

supervisors who are passive in their leadership, could be experienced from the employees’ side

as an obstacle to their sense of accomplishment at work.

Passive leadership is often something that is not desirable among workplaces, many scholars

argue that it can lead to or has a strong association to sexual harassment, trust issues and

decreased job satisfaction which increases illegitimate absenteeism (Lee, 2018; Holtz & Hu,

2017; Frooman, Mendelson, & Kevin Murphy, 2012).

2.7 Incivility Workplace incivility is defined by Andersson and Pearson (1999) as “low-intensity deviant

behavior with ambiguous intent to harm the target, in violation of workplace norms for mutual

respect. Uncivil behaviors are characteristically rude and discourteous, displaying a lack of

regard for others.” (p. 457). This behavior can include things such as showing little interest in

another’s opinion or eye rolling and checking emails during meetings (Porath & Pearson, 2010).

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Workplace incivility can lead to employees engaging in a devious manner however, it may lead

others to increased innovative behavior for the same reason, as an attempt to amend the uncivil

relations with the offender and organization (Yariv & Galit, 2017). Incivility is targeted at the

individual and not the organization as higher-more intensive behavior can be, like

counterproductive work behavior (CWB) and violence and aggression, where behaviors such

as production sabotage and verbally and physically threatening can happen at the workplace

(Harold & Holtz, 2015).

2.8 Incivility as an Effect of Passive Leadership Harold and Holtz (2015) examined the effects passive leadership may have on workplace

incivility and found that passive leadership is negatively related with incivility, the higher level

of passive leadership the higher experienced incivility in the workplace. The study they

conducted show that employees working under a passive manager are more likely to both

behave uncivil and experience incivility in the workplace. This relation was also found in the

study conducted by Lee and Jensen (2014) where they concluded that passive leadership is both

directly and indirectly related to workplace incivility. Harold and Holtz (2015) argue that both

observing incivility as well as being engaged in uncivil behavior could result in reduced job

performance and job satisfaction, which could result in employees withdrawing from the

company. These effects cost the company a lot of money and should hence be of interest to

management. Porath and Erez (2007) suggest that incivility also has a negative effect on

creativity, task performance and helping behavior, which are crucial factors in order for

intrapreneurial behavior to exist (Neessen et al., 2019). The type of incivility that could affect

these factors could be both indirect rudeness such as overhearing someone speaking rudely or

be more direct such as being confronted personally. Regardless whether the act of rudeness

comes from a role with authority or from a third party it still affects task performance and

creativity and even if an incident only happens one time, it still has serious consequences on

cognitive tasks (Porath & Erez, 2007). The study that was conducted by Porath and Erez (2007)

show that even if individuals do not think that rudeness is a problem at their workplace, which

could be the case in an organization where it is acceptable to be rude, rudeness may still have

consequences. If people are not aware that rudeness affects them they could still be harmed

with cognitive losses. When someone experiences rude behavior the process of thinking

through and trying to make sense of the event could be on the cost of cognitive resources which

could have been put on the task instead (Porath & Erez, 2007).

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2.9 Trust Issues as an Effect of Passive Leadership McAllister (1995) indicates that there are two types of trust, affect-based and cognition-based,

where the first concerns the emotional association between the leader and the employee,

whereas the latter concerns performance, responsibilities and competencies.

Holtz and Hu (2017) conducted a study where the relation between passive leadership and

cognition-based trust was investigated and the results showed that passive leadership is

negatively correlated with trust. Supervisors that are passive in their leadership towards

employees may do serious harm to the trust from the employees. Employees have a lack of trust

towards the competence of their supervisors when their supervisor exhibits passive leadership,

with behaviors such as neglecting or missing problems, delaying decisions or not making

themselves available to the employees. Holtz and Hu (2017) mean that there is no reason for

employees to trust their leader if the leader avoids responsibility, does not show up when needed

and is often nowhere to be found. In order to build trust, they should have good and frequent

communication with the employees and attempt to proactively, anticipate and solve potential

issues and problems in the workplace (Holtz & Hu 2017). Furthermore Adeel, Khan, Zafar, and

Rizvi (2018) also showed in their study that passive attitude from management might lead to

negative consequences in employees that can harm the trust as well.

2.10 Summary Previous research has given an extensive review of what intrapreneurship is (Antoncic &

Hisrich, 2003; Gifford Pinchot III, 1985; Neessen et al., 2019), what the benefits are (Antoncic

& Hisrich, 2003; Zahra & Covin, 1995) and what is important in order for intrapreneurial

behavior to exist in the organization (Antoncic & Hisrich, 2001; Alpkan et al., 2010; Yariv &

Galit, 2017). However, looking at the phenomena from the employee’s perspective have been

neglected and the lack of the darker side of interactions with intrapreneurs have been

overlooked which is pointed out by several researchers in the field (Andersson & Pearson, 1999;

Yariv & Galit, 2017; Neessen et al., 2019). Within the research of leadership, it is often

investigated how a good leadership looks like, that is also the case with leadership in relation

to intrapreneurs. In the work of Moriano et al. (2011) they investigated through a quantitative

study, how different leadership styles relate to individuals with intrapreneurial behavior. Their

conclusion was that passive leadership and intrapreneurial behavior does not relate at all. In

order to further extend their research it could be interesting to investigate the phenomena with

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a qualitative study where a deeper understanding could be retained (Merriam, 2010). As Yariv

and Galit (2017) and Andersson and Pearson (1999) suggest, that the darker side of

interrelations with intrapreneurs are overlooked, it also argues for the need of conducting a

study where a destructive leadership in relation to intrapreneurs will be investigated. In order

to investigate the relation between a destructive leadership and intrapreneurs, literature

regarding the nature of passive leadership have been reviewed. It was found that passive leaders

are neglecting problems, not being proactive, avoid taking decisions and have an inadequate

skill to manage, represent or reinforce appropriate behavior (Cénevert et al., 2013; Harold &

Holtz, 2015; Hinkin & Schriesheim, 2008). Known effects from passive leadership are

incivility, and trust issues between leader and employees (Harold & Holtz, 2015; Adeel et al.,

2018; Holtz & Hu, 2017). The set of theories in this review have been used as tools and provided

a theoretical ground for the discussion, regarding how our empirical findings acts in relation to

passive leadership. This theoretical foundation has guided us in our discussion regarding the

question: How does passive leadership impact intrapreneurial behavior?

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3. Research Design

3.1 Research Question and Purpose

How does passive leadership impact intrapreneurial behavior?

The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the research of entrepreneurship and more

specifically the sub-field of intrapreneurship as well as the research of leadership. Extant

research of intrapreneurship suggest that future research should focus on interactions that can

inhibit intrapreneurial behavior since this has often been overlooked, such as incivility and

destructive leadership (Andersson & Pearson, 1999). The findings in this study can extend the

work of Moriano et al. (2011) where leadership in relation to intrapreneurial behavior was

studied quantitatively and passive leadership was not investigated in detail. Furthermore, Yariv

and Galiv (2017) and Neessen et al. (2019) suggest that future research should look at the

perspective of the employees when it comes to intrapreneurial behavior since earlier research

has focused on the management’s perspective. We have therefore attempted to contribute to the

areas that have been overlooked in extant research regarding intrapreneurship and leadership.

In particular the work by Moriano et al. (2011) and Holtz and Hu (2017) by looking through a

qualitative study at the relation between passive leadership and intrapreneurial behavior, from

an employee perspective.

3.2 Research Strategy The research conducted is structured based on a paradigm which Slevitch (2011) means can be

referred to as a common and shared world view. The paradigm which the research methodology

in this thesis is based on, is called ontology and is the study of reality and things that comprise

reality. Ontology defines the epistemological view, which is the theory of knowledge and the

assumptions about what constitutes legitimate knowledge and meaningful data. The scientific

view serves as the foundation upon which a methodology is based and specifies the assumptions

of reality, human nature and society, the beliefs about what is important to study and

assumptions about what constitutes legitimate knowledge and meaningful data. A methodology

hence establishes methods to be used in a scientific inquiry. These methods constitute a set of

tools, procedures, techniques or strategies that are appropriate for the research in question

(Slevitch, 2011).

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In this thesis, the qualitative paradigm is used, according to Slevitch (2011) it is an approach

that stems from idealism which is an ontological view suggesting that reality depends on the

individual’s mental structure and activity. An idealistic standpoint emphasizes that there is no

single reality but multiple realities based on the individual’s construction or interpretation of

reality. Realities can be distinguished in the form of multiple social and mental constructions

dependent on what perceptions of the reality individuals hold. Slevitch (2011) suggests that as

reality depends on the minds of individuals, it is affected by values, point of views, interests

and purposes and things can only be described as we perceive or interpret them. Facts cannot

be separated from values and hence absolute objectivity is not possible. The aim with a

qualitative scientific investigation is to acquire better understanding of the phenomena from the

point of view of the individuals participating in the study (Slevitch 2011). A research design

commonly used when using qualitative data is a qualitative case study which Merriam (2010)

defines as a deep analysis of a single unit that has boundaries, and where the goal should be to

understand and find the meaning of the phenomenon of interest. The best method for collecting

data in a qualitative case study is to use the researcher as an instrument where interviews,

observations and document analysis should be central, that is to ensure a deep understanding of

the bounded system (Merriam, 2010).

The qualitative approach is appropriate for the study we have conducted as we want to

investigate a small group of individuals from different companies, and how they interpret and

are affected by certain activities as well as what is important to them. What we want to

investigate, “How does passive leadership impact intrapreneurial behavior?” requires us to

get to know the individuals with an aim to better understand what affects their values and mental

constructions, to then be able to find out how the characteristics and effects of passive

leadership acts in relation to the individuals. Why we choose the qualitative perspective was to

achieve the goal of understanding the phenomena from the point of view of the intrapreneurs

in question. Since this method could grant deeper and more complex insights as to how they

could be impacted from passive leadership, it would increase the chances to extend the

discussion of how leadership relates to intrapreneurial behavior.

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3.3 Operationalization of the Research Question In order to examine the research question, we have operationalized it using a thematic analysis

and broken it down into four sub-themes. These themes guided us in the creation of the

interview guide (Appendix 9.1c). The four sub-themes are:

Intrapreneurial behaviors

In this sub-theme we primarily want to ensure that the attributes of intrapreneurs we found in

previous research match the interviewees to ensure that we are in fact interviewing

intrapreneurs. We also want to know more about the intrapreneur and their thoughts in order to

create an understanding of how they work.

Organizational support: risk tolerance & failure

In this sub-theme we want to examine how much support the intrapreneur needs and wants from

their leader, and also how it can affect their performance and creativity. We also want to know

if the support from the leader can affect risk tolerance and the failure rate for the intrapreneur.

Incivility affect intrapreneurs & how it is managed by leaders

In this sub-theme we want to look at the working environment and its effect on the

intrapreneurial behaviors. More specifically we want to focus on incivility in the working

environment and how the engagement of the leader can have an effect on it.

Preferred leadership

In this sub-theme we want the intrapreneur to define what their preference of leadership is, in

order to relate it to the characteristics of passive leadership.

3.4 Case Study Simons (2009) defines case studies as:

“an in-depth exploration from multiple perspectives of the complexity and uniqueness of a

particular project, policy, institution, programme or system in a ‘real life’ context. It is

research-based, inclusive of different methods and is evidence-led. The primary purpose is

to generate in-depth understanding of a specific topic (as in a thesis), programme, policy,

17

institution or system to generate knowledge and/or inform policy development, professional

practice and civil or community action” (p. 21).

Agreeing with her definition we chose to do a case study in order to obtain as much information

as possible about the intrapreneur and their relationship to their leader. We have chosen an

abductive approach where we go back and forth between our theoretical framework and the

data collected during the case study, this allows us to develop further interesting finds from the

interviews.

3.4.1 Data collection

In order to gain as much knowledge and data as possible regarding intrapreneurs we have

conducted interviews with the intrapreneurs themselves and we also did a document analysis.

We have conducted semi-structured interviews since it can generate depth, seeing that it gives

an opportunity for the interviewer to extend on the interviewee's answers (Rubin & Rubin,

2005). We have collected data during the interviews both through the conversation and also

through observations, as it enhances the validity of our findings and increases our confidence

that we have captured the participants' understanding and interpretations of the phenomena as

closely as possible (Merriam, 2010). During the interview we have followed an interview guide

set by our sub-themes, decided under the Operationalization of the research question. To

increase validity and broaden our findings we have looked at different individuals from several

companies in different industries. Since we choose to examine the individual and not a specific

firm we used several methods such as social media and recommendations to find intrapreneurs.

We purposely chose to not only elect individuals from recommendations since this might lead

us to have too many similar intrapreneurs and a lot of intrapreneurs from the same company.

3.4.2 Sampling and sample size

When conducting the sampling for the interviews we practiced Robinson’s (2014) four-point

approach shown in Figure 1 below.

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Figure 1. The four-point approach to qualitative sampling (Robinson, 2014, p. 26).

The four-point approach was adopted and Figure 2 shows the result when applied to our study.

Figure 2. The four-point approach applied to our study.

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Point 1; Sample universe: Since we want to study the intrapreneur and their behaviors, our

sample universe must be psychologically homogeneous, which means that the individuals

within the sample have similar traits or abilities (Robinson, 2014). For our study it is individuals

with intrapreneurial traits. Point 2; Sample size: Robinson (2014) recommends that when doing

an undergraduate project an idiographic (small) aim is more suitable when it comes to sample

size. This is because a smaller sample size will make sure each individual case is voiced and

thoroughly analyzed. Therefore, we have chosen to have a sample size of 10 people. Point 3;

Sample strategy: We have chosen to do a mixed-gender purposive sampling strategy with an

intensity sampling. Firstly, we chose a purposive sampling strategy which is a non-random

sampling method (Robinson, 2014), this is because we want to find specific individuals

matching our theoretical understanding of what an intrapreneur is. Secondly, we argue that a

mixed-gender sample is more beneficial for our study since it is focused on the individual with

no specific gender, we also want to diminish any gender biases from our study. Thirdly, we

choose to do intensity sampling which is used when the objective is theoretical insight. Intensity

sampling aims to find information-rich cases which are chosen specifically to be

comprehensive, insightful, articulate and honest (Robinson, 2014). Therefore, we selected

intensity sampling because we want in-depth knowledge of the intrapreneurs themselves and

their behaviors. Point 4; Source of sample: We have contacted the intrapreneurs individually

without any incentives, some individuals have been obtained through recommendations.

3.4.3 Interview process

When conducting a semi-structured interview, it is normal to have an interview guide to make

sure the same thematic approach is applied during all interviews (Qu & Dumay, 2011). We

have therefore created an interview guide which was used throughout all our interviews

(Appendix 9.1c). Even if a semi-structured interview is inclined to be done face to face we have

conducted all interviews via online communication platforms (Zoom, Skype & Teams), this

because of the COVID-19 pandemic which restrains us from meeting people. Because of the

usage of online communications platforms, we have created some additional guidelines in order

for the interviews to be as fluent as possible: (I) The video for both parties should be on, this is

because we wanted the interview to be as lifelike as possible. (II) Before each interview we

appoint a leader for the interview which conducts the interview, this is due to the unintended

interruptions that can occur easier when the physical human interaction is removed. (III) The

person who is not lead will be a time checker, in order to manage the time properly and make

sure we move forward and stay on topic. Before each interview we send out an email with

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general information and attached an information sheet regarding the study (Appendix 9.1a) and

a consent form (Appendix 9.1b) for the interviewee to sign. This is to make sure that they are

fully informed of the study, have information regarding anonymity and the knowledge that the

interview is recorded. All of our interviews had a duration between 40 - 70 minutes each.

3.5 Trustworthiness and Authenticity Guba and Lincoln (1994) argue that the quality of a qualitative study should include two main

criterias; trustworthiness and authenticity. Where trustworthiness should contain four topics;

credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability. In order to execute credibility, we

used a methodological triangulation, by analysing both the data from our case study and also

reports conducted by organizations and institutions, regarding intrapreneurs. To show

transferability we kept the results of our analysis to the context of our study and have not

generazied it towards all intrapreneurs. Guba and Lincoln (1994) state that dependability is

enforced by peers auditing the work throughout the research, we instead had our supervisor on

several occasions check our work throughout the research, in lack of scholar peers.

Furthermore, Guba and Lincoln (1994) state that dependability should be apparent through not

allowing personal values or theoretical dispositions to impress or create biases in the research,

this has been done to our greatest extent. However, it should be noted that to entirely abolish

personal values from qualitative research is impossible.

Guba and Lincoln (1994) describe that authenticity consists of four criterias; fairness,

ontological authenticity, educative authenticity, catalytic authenticity and tactical authenticity.

However, Bryman (2012) states that these authenticity criterias are thought-provoking but not

influential and therefore, we took these criterias into consideration throughout our research, but

did not put as much emphasis on them. However, fairness was something we did take to heart

and tried to execute throughout our research as much as possible, for example we followed

Lincoln and Guba’s (1986) technique and sent a consent form out before the interviews and

was always transparent with our information.

3.6 Research Ethics Research ethics is highly important in order to create a reliable and trustworthy research. The

Swedish research council defines four main ethical requirements for research: (I) The researcher

should inform the person concerned about the reason for the research. (II) Participants in the

21

study should decide themselves if they want to participate or not. (III) The personal information

regarding the participants should be anonymous if wanted and their information should be kept

safe. (IV) The information collected from the participant is only to be used for research purposes

(Humanistisk- samhällsvetenskapliga forskningsrådet, 2002). We do also think that research

ethics is highly important and have therefore as mentioned above, a study information sheet

and a consent form (Appendix 9: 1a & 1b) sent out to the interviewees to properly ensure that

the four requirements from the Swedish research council are met.

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4. Analysis

4.1 Introduction In this section we present the methods we have used to analyze the data we have collected and

our findings after analyzing the empirical data. The object of this study is the intrapreneurs and

their relation to their leader, which have been investigated by a case study where we have

conducted interviews with 10 different intrapreneurs from different organizations and positions.

4.2 Method of Analysis In order to analyze the qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews in our case

study, we have used a thematic analysis. A thematic analysis has according to Braun and Clark

(2006) a theoretical freedom and could therefore be used with flexibility and provide a rich and

detailed account of data. Since we have an abductive data collection approach and hope to find

more theory based on our findings in the data analysis, we argue that a flexible method is

appropriate. A thematic analysis was used in order to identify, analyze and report themes

amongst the data that has been collected (Braun & Clarke, 2006). A theme is a category that

has been identified amongst the data, it relates to the focus of the research and it can be built on

codes that have been identified in the transcript. Bryman and Bell (2015) state that by

identifying themes it will provide us with guidance in order to find a theoretical understanding

of the data, which we hope can contribute to the research field of intrapreneurship. As Ryan

and Bernad (2003) suggest, we have used the following points to guide what we should look

for in the transcripts from the interviews:

➢ Repetitions: Opinions and topics that are shared often and by many of the participants.

➢ Metaphors and analogies: How the participants present their thoughts.

➢ Transitions: If the topics in the transcripts shift and in what way.

➢ Similarities and differences: Look for how the participants discuss things in different or

similar ways.

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In order to structure the data and assist in finding themes we followed the six phases Braun and

Clark (2006) points out as a useful step by step guide:

1. Familiarizing yourself with your data

After each interview we familiarized ourselves with the data by manually transcribing it. We

chose to manually transcribe each interview in order to better reflect and understand the data,

since we can hear the interviewees tone of voice and non-linguistic sounds and expressions.

After transcribing the interviews, we also checked the transcripts once again against the audio

to reassure the accuracy.

2. Generating initial codes

After re-reading the transcripts once more we extracted quotes and paragraphs we found

interesting, relevant and meaningful and created initial codes for them. We did this with the

guidance of Ryan and Bernard’s (2003) approach mentioned above.

3 & 4. Searching for themes and reviewing themes

When all the data was processed and given an initial code, we started searching for themes

within the codes, we did this with the help of mind maps. After finding different recurring

themes, we reviewed and changed them several times until we had the final thematic map

(Figure 3). We found two main themes, these are; what enhances and what inhibits

entrepreneurial behavior, and within each of these, two sub-themes were also found. Further

the final themes were then listed with the data extracts in one coherent list (Appendix 9.2).

5. Defining and naming themes

When the final thematic map was set we defined and named all themes (Table 1).

6. Producing the report

Finally, we produced a report with all our findings in a coherent story, this can be found under

the section 4.3 Analysis of the Data.

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Figu

re 3

. The

mat

ic m

ap

25

Enhances Things that enhances intrapreneurial behaviors

Leadership: attributes, support and relationship This theme emerged when the participants started to explain what they want and need from their leader in order to enhance their intrapreneurial behaviors. This sub-theme includes three important parts; the leaders attributes, what kind of support they give and what their relationship looks like.

Environment This sub-theme includes what the participants also said they needed, but from their environment. This sub-theme includes both the mental and the physical environment, where the mental is concerning their colleagues and the physical is tools, machines, devices and so.

Inhibits Things that inhibits intrapreneurial behaviors

Leadership: attributes, lack of support, and relationship

This theme emerged when the participants started to explain what things that leaders do that inhibits their intrapreneurial behaviors. This sub-theme includes three important parts; the leaders' attributes, the lack of support they give and what their relationship looks like.

Incivility In this sub-theme the participants talk about incivility; observed incivility, experienced incivility, the effects of it and how it can be handled.

Table 1. Definitions of the themes and sub-themes in the thematic map

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4.3 Analysis of the Data The individuals we have interviewed are creative and innovative with many ideas and solutions

in their minds. They have been provoking and initiating discussions in order to spark innovation

at their organizations, even though this seems like a perfect employee, it is not always

welcomed. Managers also sometimes have a lack of knowledge on what inhibits or enhances

the employees´ intrapreneurial behaviors. As the purpose for this research is to broaden the

point of view of intrapreneurship and look at factors that may inhibit intrapreneur´s ability to

act intrapreneurial, we have conducted interviews with these employees. The purpose of the

interviews was to find out what the intrapreneurs value, why they might fail with acting on their

ideas and what can inhibit as well as enhance their intrapreneurial behavior. A report from

Intraprenörskapskompassen conducted by Blomkvist, Kappen and Zander (2017) and a report

from the consultancy firm Deloitte (2015) have also been analyzed in order to broaden the

findings and get a more nuanced view on the phenomena. Furthermore, in this section the result

from our interviews and document analysis will be presented and put in relation with what

current researchers have found on the topic of intrapreneurship. The findings from our case

study are discussed in relation to passive leadership in the discussion section. (The data extract

on which the analysis is based on can be found in the appendix 9.2)

4.3.1 Intrapreneurial behavior

The interviewees in this study work in all types of different industries such as large banks,

consultancy firms and smaller companies within construction and transportation, there are also

some interviewees from companies where innovation and intrapreneurship are a big focus area,

such as 3M. At some of the companies where the interviewees work, they are able to spend a

predetermined amount of time working with their own ideas. As Antoncic and Hisrisch (2013)

suggest, the intrapreneurs can be found in different types of organizations, they can be

innovative in all kinds of activities such as development of new products, administrative

techniques, services, strategies and more. In order to validate the interviewees as intrapreneurs

and thus be coherent with our object of study, we initiated the interview with discussing their

everyday work and letting them describe themselves and their work. All of the participants

explained that they take initiative and come up with new ideas, where some contributed with

making internal processes more efficient (participant A, C), some introduced new strategies

(participants F, H, E), and some also developed new products (participants D, G). All

participants expressed that they believe it is necessary to take risks in order to innovate and

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contribute to change which is according to Neessen et al. (2019) the definition of intrapreneurial

behavior, to take advantage of opportunities by being proactive, innovative and risk-taking.

Taking risk:

“I would say that I rather take a risk that could fail pretty hard, rather than not try at all”

- Participant E

“I like taking risks. But not a foolish risk, that is important to say” - Participant B

Being proactive:

“...that's one of my biggest selling points, when I am trying to sell myself as a worker, to be

kind of an innovator, but also in a proactive way take advantage of the ideas that exist and

connect well with the organization, to push them forward” - Participant E

Being innovative:

“...currently working more internally with business development, innovation and product

development” - Participant C

“I am very prone to take initiative, be creative, I feel that I have the ability to connect many

things, see the bigger picture, see things maybe others do not see or grasp, things that fall

through the cracks” - Participant J

4.3.2 Enhances intrapreneurial behavior

When listening to the intrapreneurs during our interviews they all explained how aspects of

leadership and their working environment have enhanced their intrapreneurial behavior.

Intrapreneurial behavior includes their ability to be creative and innovative, their tendency to

dare to take risks and level of contribution to change. The participants have pointed out several

things that are of importance to them, however, we have chosen to focus on what is recurring

amongst them. These will be presented in the following sections with the guidance from the

themes from our thematic map (see figure 3).

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4.3.2.1 Leadership: attributes, support and relationship

When discussing what enhances factors such as creativity, innovativeness and the intrapreneur's

ability to act on their ideas, they often expressed how they want their leader to act in a certain

way. They wanted their leader to hold certain attributes and they expressed that the support

from the leader determines their ability to contribute to innovation in several aspects. In order

for intrapreneurial behavior to occur Yariv and Galit (2017) mean that organizational support,

which they describe include tolerance for risk and managerial support, is necessary which is

also stressed by Alpkan et al. (2010). When the interviewees addressed what enhances their

tendency to take risk it is in line with what Yariv and Galit (2017) and Alpkan et al. (2010)

suggest, that leaders show tolerance for risk-taking behavior, which was recurring as being a

desired way a leader can ensure tolerance for risk, this was expressed as followed:

“A good example is a group of circus acrobats, who throw themselves into each other's arms

on cords and such...who dares to make the coolest tricks? Those who have a safety net or

those who do not have a safety net? Of course, it is those who have a safety net [...] people

who encourage you instead, "it was still a good job, if you had never tried, we would never

have known if it works or not”, if that kind of social safety nets are there you dare more.” -

Participant D

What I think is important is to know that your leader has your back and to know that the

person will at least try to stand by me, even if I was wrong. That I'm sure that the person

supports me, [...] doing a quality check on everything you do is why you need time with the

leader and to be able to have them as a sounding board" - Participant E

These findings are also in line with what Antoncic and Hisrich (2001) suggest, that

intrapreneurs need to feel secured by management in order to take risks. When discussing with

the interviewees how leaders should emphasize that they tolerate risk in order for the

interviewees to be ensured that they could take risk, they pointed out the need for having a

dialogue with their leader and that clarity and trust was of importance. This supports the

findings from Marvel et al. (2007) where it was evident that communication relates positively

to intrapreneurship. The following was expressed by the interviewees:

29

“An initial meeting where you go through and set up points that you can measure against

later…. Strong commitment early and then releases it completely, and then be able to come

back to it later.” - Participant B

“a lot of times it is about the individual dialogue between me and my manager where you

feel the trust, but also that you see in practice that the manager actually lives up to what the

manager says. And then you notice that if someone in the team did something, like it was a

"super fail" [...] That you have a learning culture, a learning mentality where all we do is

we learn not doing mistakes. I also think that the risk propensity even for those who may not

dare to take as much risk, which is not like me, increases, or that they dare [...] I believe a

learning culture, an understanding culture, an understanding manager and being accepting

of failure. - Participant H

The relation to their leader was frequently brought up as something that affects their

intrapreneurial behavior in several ways. For the interviewees, trust was one of the most

important attributes in the relationship to their leader in order for them to be able to be creative,

act on their ideas and take initiative for change. The following was expressed:

“I really think that building trust between each other is incredibly important [...] it is

because of problems that has roused in the company I work for now and that I realized the

importance of the problem with a lack of interpersonal relationship” - Participant B

“a tight dialogue [...] as well as an openness and trust in each other” - Participant C

When discussing how they want their leader to show that they trust them, they pointed out that

letting them to work more freely was one way for the leader to show that they trust them, and

it made the interviewees more creative and innovative to work autonomous. The effect they

described, working freely, is also in line with what Lumpkin and Dess (1996) suggest.

“My manager that I have today is very hands off [...] to let the employees manage their own

time to a bigger extent, I would say is an incubator for more innovative thoughts and ideas”

- Participant E

“I am the most creative when I have a lot of freedom [...] I need to be able to build my own

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way of working, how are we getting there, who do we need on board etc. I need to be able

to figure that out on my own, that is when an intrapreneur is at their best” - Participant J

However, the interviewees still pointed out that they need the leader to support them throughout

the process of acting on an idea which also is in line with the findings by Zahra and Covin

(1995). When starting a project, the interviewees frequently stressed the importance of being

able to use their leader as a sounding board, to discuss their ideas and thoughts with. This had

the effect of building trust and hence made them more comfortable with acting on their idea.

This is in line with what Holtz and Hu (2017) found in their study, that communication is a tool

for building trust between leaders and employees. Marvel et al. (2007) also suggest that

providing channels for communication is beneficial for intrapreneurship to succeed which is

coherent with what the interviewees expressed:

“If I had completely free hands, which is perhaps lucky that I do not have, then it would have

derailed here a long time ago [...] the management that we have, they make sure to guide it

right, so that we take the right initiative” - Participant F

“If there is something that the manager is not so involved in, then it can also suffice for me

to just activate the manager, saying that “now I do this, what do you think?” And that, then

it is perfectly okay that he has not thought about it before, but that he do it now, that he is

there” - Participant G

All of the interviewees want to be able to work with their ideas freely and when a problem

occurs they want support from their leader. Several of the interviewees pointed out that their

leader does not necessarily have to approach them but they want the leader to be available to

listen and help, when a problem occurs they want to ask for help which they meant was good

for them in their creative process:

“Not intervene but would definitely like to have them available in a way that I do not feel I

need support, but that you have the sounding board to discuss the needs or the problem that

is, in many cases the problem is solved just talking about them” - Participant E

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“I don't expect a manager to solve everything, a manager just tells me which way to go, “go

there and then you come to me if there is a problem, if you don't get the help you need there,

come to me again”, no more than that” - Participant G

To get help from their leader with pushing their idea forward was highly desired amongst the

interviewees and they mean it is necessary so that they can get the organizational support

needed. This helped them with fulfilling their idea and to contribute to change which is also in

line with the findings in the study conducted by Yariv and Galit (2017), where organizational

support showed to be positively correlated with intrapreneurial behavior. Support by having

strategies in how to encourage creative people and knowledge about implementing innovation

is also suggested by Duncan et al. (1988) to be important for intrapreneurship. Several of our

interviewees talked about a leader who set the stage, utilized their position to make things go

forward faster and be prioritized higher up in the organization, they wanted the leader to show

an interest in what they wanted to pursue.

“I think that if a manager should lack the interest in what we do or insight into what we do

also lack, in lack of better words, the balls for being able to stand up for us in situations

where we need to push through or kick in doors.” - Participant H

"In that sense he was very good as my manager, to clear the obstacles that put a stop for me

and use his contacts. I think it is also important that when you are the manager of a

intrapreneur that you do not let the administration work weigh down, because it is not there

the intrapreneur should work, that person should create” - Participant J

According to an extensive report about intrapreneurship in Sweden conducted by Blomkvist,

Kappen, and Zander (2017, p. 10) it was also evident that the effect of intrapreneurial behavior

is dependent on the decisions made by managers in the organization.

“The conditions for the intrapreneur are different. The introduction of a new product or

service requires acceptance and support from several different parts of the company, from

purchasing or manufacturing units and the sales organization, to the management who

decides on major investments in new projects. A "no" from any of these areas makes it very

difficult for the intrapreneur to move on with his idea, as the number of alternative paths

within the company is severely limited [...] the intrapreneur must be able to handle an

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internal and often political process in order to implement a new product or service.”

(Blomkvist et al., 2017)

Their empirical finding is in line with our findings from the interviews as the intrapreneurs we

talked to pointed out the desire to have a leader to fight for them through areas in the

organization.

4.3.2.2 Environment

The interviewees all expressed that the environment has a big impact on their ability to be

creative and perform in their work, both the psychological aspects involving the human

interactions and also the physical surroundings. In terms of their colleagues and the culture

within the team, the majority of the interviewees expressed in different ways that it is highly

important to have a positive and supporting attitude within the group in order for them to thrive

and be creative. Furthermore, several interviewees expressed their desire for an open-minded

atmosphere, to be able to talk about everything without fear in order for ideas to grow.

“You should have the same clear goals and high ceilings, so you are able to discuss things

with one and other, then tons of ideas will come up” - Participant F

Likewise, a report from Deloitte “Five Insights into Intrapreneurship - A Guide to Accelerating

Innovation within Corporations” (2015, p. 18,19) highlights the importance of an open culture

and why it is important for the intrapreneurs:

“It is important to show employees that their entrepreneurial behavior is supported and

fostered, which includes an open culture in which they are not afraid of sharing their ideas.

Each employee should be encouraged to come up with suggestions for incremental

improvements, as well as radical concepts. Later on, managers need to provide

implementation support in the form of resources and advice to reduce time-to-market and

increase the chances for success” - Deloitte Digital GmbH, (2015)

This strengthens our finding that the psychological aspects such as human interactions play a

significant part in the individuals intrapreneurial behaviors. The importance of having a

supportive and tolerant internal environment where the intrapreneurs feel safe is also in line

with the findings by Alpkan et al. (2010). Although the atmosphere in the workplace is

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important, it was highlighted by some that the competence and matching of the colleagues are

also crucial factors in order for ideas to occur. Nobody knows everything, meaning they have

to trust the team as a group, knowing that their colleagues are competent in their respective

field, makes them trust their decisions without having to put energy on doubt or to double check

every step. A diversified group was also voiced as important in order to get different angles and

perspectives on the task, the interviewees expressed that this should be facilitated by their

leader.

“Mostly that you feel that you have ended up with competent people who are in the right

place and have the right job [...] you always have to trust your colleagues, I can't question

someone who calculated all the numbers or something, then I have to trust it”

- Participant G

“If a manager sees a clear trend that some type of competence always seems to be needed

in his employees, then I would definitely say that it takes proactivity, striving to find the kind

of gap in the process or structure that can be filled with expertise and competence.”

- Participant E

Furthermore, the physical aspects of the environment were something all interviewees

addressed during the interviews; however, they had different preferences on what they wanted

and cared about. For some interviewees the tools and materials are very important, such as

whiteboards, others expressed that it is more important to have the ability to work outside the

office space or have the ability to work from home. Having the space and time for meeting

people within the organization was also important to some.

“A big room here where we sit and work, the walls are covered with whiteboards, you can

always get things up, you can test things, or draw things, write things, it's more about having

the right kind of equipment in place when you need it too, but there is also an environment

that needs to be inspiring, which is why we also have a shared office space, right in the

middle of the city, and there it is an environment for inspiration” - Participant F

“I think a lot depends on new impressions, for me personally, one thing is to be challenged

by something new. If I end up in a situation where it is repetitive, it is difficult to think new

[...] it is new impressions that affect my creativity. For example, I find it very difficult when

34

I sit here at home in the same room to come up with something new, I have to get out of here

and do something else to get it. I'm not a person who can sit still in the same place to get

that creativity started” - Participant B

When discussing the importance to meet people in order for them to get new perspectives on

things and new ideas, it was also suggested to create meetings to happen outside the

organization, which is in line with what Razavi and Ab Aziz (2017) suggest, that networking

has a positive effect on intrapreneurial behaviors. This was desired to be facilitated by the leader

through conventions, shared working spaces or even bringing in experts, in order for it to be

more structured.

“There is an environment to meet people outside the bank, so you get different perspectives

and other ideas, be able to talk to a non-banker at the coffee machine, and say what do you

do? Or what is your relationship with banks? And get other insights, then inspiration and

creativity will come from it” - Participant F

“attending conventions [...] a need to share other people's thoughts and ideas in a much

more structured way than I can facilitate on my own initiative [...] A manager is the one who

creates the prerequisites more than being an expert in the area, a good expert does not have

to be a good manager. Therefore, I do not think that the manager needs to be an expert but

rather just create the conditions, maybe bring in someone who is an expert and help you

facilitate meetings with the right person to get the right feedback” - Participant E

In conclusion, the most apparent findings on what enhances intrapreneurs could be found in

both their leader and in the intrapreneur´s environment. When discussing their leader´s

attributes, support and relationship, the intrapreneurs stated that tolerance for risk, trust,

availability, autonomy, continuous support in projects and a leader who set the stage for them,

was the most crucial in order for them to be creative and dare to take risks. This was also

supported by the report conducted by Blomkvist et al. (2017) where they state that the

intrapreneurs need support and acceptance from their organization and the management.

Discussing the environment, the intrapreneurs brought up both the mental and the physical

aspects of their surroundings. It was important for them to have an open-minded atmosphere

together with a positive and supporting team. This was also backed up by the report created by

Deloitte (2015) which stated that it is important for the intrapreneur to feel supported and have

35

an open culture. Talking about the group dynamics it was expressed by the intrapreneurs that a

diversified group that held the right competence was important in order to create ideas. Some

of the intrapreneurs also stated that meeting people outside the organization was important to

get new impressions and that it should be facilitated by their leader.

4.3.3 Inhibits intrapreneurial behavior

The interviewees addressed factors that made it difficult for them to go forward with their ideas,

and how a lack of support and some attributes held by leaders made them less innovative,

creative and prone to take risks. They also explained how some factors in their social

environment such as incivility, inhibited their ability to innovate. What was recurring and

shared by many of the interviewees will be presented in this section.

4.3.3.1 Leadership: attributes, lack of support, and relationship

A recurring factor that was expressed by the interviewees that made them hesitate taking risks

or acting on an idea, was when they did not get any positive and optimistic response or support

from their leader. They explained that when facing negative comments and lack of commitment

from their leader it made some of them feel unmotivated and they put their energy towards the

situation of not getting support rather than on developing their ideas.

“If you want a lot and work in an environment where you do not really have the support,

like, you do not have the leadership, you feel that you do not have someone who believes in

you in the way that you do yourself, as you believe in yourself, because I feel that I am

valuable and have something to contribute with, absolutely, but .. I think, ... it will be so

damn difficult, for both parties really, and then you get frustrated and the energy is directed

in the wrong direction” - Participant J

“It was very frustrating for the whole team, and it created a low mood, you could say, then

there were other ideas that we got to work on, so it wasn't that we stood completely still, but

that idea, many of us agreed that it could have such potential and then we got rejected, and

it lead to, well, it destroyed the spirit, the creative spirit.” - Participant D

When getting the feeling that their leader hesitated and did not encourage them to proceed with

their idea, some of the interviewees felt that they have to slow down and work at a slower pace

than they want to.

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“If I have the boss on board then I go on but as soon as I notice that the boss starts to become

doubtful then I have to pull my own handbrake.” - Participant A

The interviewees expressed that they wanted support from leaders in some way, but they also

expressed that they did not want to be micromanaged and have too much interaction with their

leader, it was important for them to set their own terms. Leaders that interfered too much made

them lose motivation to be creative and innovative. This is in line with the article by Lumpkin

and Dees (1996), where they suggest that autonomy as well as letting employees freely manage

their time and be free from constraints, is important in order for intrapreneurial behavior to take

place.

“There is nothing worse than managers coming down and trying to help. [...] It's a bit like a

chess game, when I play chess and I know exactly what to do next, what move, and then my

boss comes and does my move for me, the first time it's okay "ah it might not be exactly as I

had imagined..." but when it comes to the third or fourth time I lose motivation”

- Participant C

“..there I also had the support and when you have that it leads to results, it is not possible

to get that far if you do not get the creative freedom to do anything” - Participant J

It was also evident that not getting help from their leader or having an organizational structure

that did not encourage to ask for help, was the reason for failing with ideas or not being able to

go all the way with an initiative. Several of the interviewees pointed out a lack of support when

discussing what may have been a reason for their failures.

“I would not associate it with not having enough help, but more that I have not sought help.

Which, in turn, may be a consequence of not having the structure needed to ask for help or

not feeling brave enough to ask for help” - Participant E

“But at other jobs where I have not been in the culture that mistakes can be learning, then it

has become more reprimands and promises, some problems, ah like that, you would have

wanted more conversation” - Participant J

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This is also in line with Yariv and Galit (2011), Alpkan et al. (2010) and Duncan et al. (1988)

who all suggest that organizational support is of importance in order for intrapreneurial

behavior to exist.

4.3.3.2 Incivility

When discussing the environment with the interviewees, all of them referred to an event where

they either had seen or experienced incivility themselves within their workplace, not at every

organization but at least once in their career. They explained how it affected their ability to

perform and promote creative work. Some were not as bothered, however they said that it takes

the focus and energy from their primary work, solving problems and being creative. Just as

Porath and Erez (2007) discuss, rude behavior can take energy from the task and it can also

have a negative effect on creativity and risk-taking.

“if you are in a defensive position mentally it is very difficult to think from other perspectives,

you are then very focused on yourself, what you say and think and then it becomes difficult

to see from other perspectives which can be what promotes creativity” - Participant E

“I think it is very difficult because eh, partly because I am ashamed of the one who is nasty

and then I want to feel sorry for the person who is affected, and then you should come in as

a third party even though I do not have anything to do with it, or I just observe it and that is

even worse [...] it takes focus, and then I get a bad feeling and without a good feeling I will

not be creative.” - Participant G

Even though most of them stated that the uncivil behaviors came from other team members,

they verbalized that it is something that can occur from leaders not being present and engaging

enough. This is in line with Harold and Holtz (2015) who argue that a higher level of passive

leadership leads to higher experienced incivility.

“there were a lot of problems because the manager was not clear and present [...] we were

not a team, we shattered in all directions and bullying emerged and so much negativity” -

Participant A

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“the worst is if there is a questionnaire and you come out with a result, so everyone sees

that, here we have a result, we know what to do, but they [the manager] does nothing” -

Participant D

Some interviewees who looked back at their earlier career days stated that incivility was harder

to handle when they were younger and it had a bigger effect on them back then. It made them

feel less confident in taking initiative as they were afraid how others would react. The

interviewees that have had less supportive and engaged leaders early on expressed it affected

them for a long period, some even still today.

“It's hard when you get lost like that and lose yourself and start to doubt yourself, it's hard,

it takes time to come back from it [...] I think managers generally don't really understand

how they actually affect people” - Participant J

“Yeah but you don't understand it then and there, because you just think you have performed

bad, it can be a few years later when you do the same thing again in another company, and

then it works much better, that [support] wasn't even there back then, it's no wonder I

couldn't perform better” - Participant G

In conclusion, the most apparent findings in what inhibits the intrapreneurs was found in both

their leader and their surroundings. When discussing their leaders, it was prominent that lack

of an optimistic response, lack of commitment and hesitation instead of encouragement would

make the intrapreneurs unmotivated. This made them focus their energy on trying to get the

support they need instead of pursuing their ideas. It was also important for the intrapreneurs to

not be micromanaged by their leader as this would make them less creative and make them

unmotivated. Discussing the intrapreneurs surroundings they all stated that they had

experienced incivility in their career. However, it was different how they all responded and

handled it, most of them stated that incivility took their energy from their work and into the

uncivil behaviors instead. The intrapreneurs expressed that although incivility came from their

peers, the lack of a present and engaging leader could have been the cause. A few of the

intrapreneurs also stated that having a less supportive and engaged leader early in their career

affected them more compared to later in their career and that the negative effect could linger

for a long time.

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5. Discussion

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how a passive leadership impacts intrapreneurial

behavior, and could therefore contribute to Moriano et al.´s (2011) work which focuses mainly

on the leadership that enhances intrapreneurial behavior and where the relation was studied

quantitatively. We did this by further investigating, with a qualitative study, how a destructive

form of leadership could affect intrapreneurs. The need for this research is stressed by many

researchers, Yariv and Galit (2017) stress the need for exploring the dark side of interrelations

with intrapreneurs and in the leadership research, passive leadership has been overlooked

according to Holtz and Hu (2017). The findings from our qualitative study suggest that

intrapreneurs need to be able to have a good relation to their leader where trust is essential in

order to dare taking risks, which is one of the key factors in intrapreneurial behavior. Holtz and

Hu (2017) conducted a study regarding how passive leadership affects cognition-based trust.

They found that employees have a lack of trust towards their leaders when they exhibit passive

leadership. This is also evident in the study by Adeel et al. (2018) where they could conclude

that a passive attitude from management could harm the trust from employees. Trust is one of

the reasons intrapreneurs dare to take risks and a passive leadership could harm the level of

trust between leaders and employees (Holtz & Hu, 2017; Adeel et al., 2018). In light of this, it

could be suggested that a passive leadership in relation to intrapreneurs would decrease the

level of intrapreneurial behavior in terms of level of risk tendency. In order for a leader to show

trust the interviewees pointed out the need of getting the responsibility to work freely and

autonomously which in result, made them more creative and innovative. As passive leadership

is characterized as a non-responsive leadership where leaders avoid taking any action and only

intervene when a problem becomes chronic and severe (Chénevert et al., 2013; DeRue et al.,

2011), it leads to employees being able to work rather free from distractions from their leader.

In line with this, it could be argued that a passive leadership could increase the level of

intrapreneurial behavior. However, it was also evident in our analysis that intrapreneurs want

their leader to be available to help and serve as a sounding board, and a tight dialogue was of

importance in order for them to believe in their ideas. In contrast a leader that is passive does

not give feedback and is unresponsive (Chenevert et al., 2013) and would hence not fulfill the

support the intrapreneurs need.

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It was evident in our analysis that when the intrapreneurs faced a lack of commitment from

their leader it derived their focus away from coming up with ideas and they lost their creativity.

This would suggest that a passive leadership would have a negative impact on their level of

creativity and innovativeness as it would not provide them with encouragement through a tight

dialogue. It was also evident in our case study that the intrapreneurs were more likely to be

innovative when their leader helped them pursue their ideas, by being interested and fighting

for them. This would require the leader to first be involved in order to know what the

intrapreneurs are doing and then act in order to give it attention in the organization. Since a

passive leader does not take proactive decisions and only act when there is a problem, he would

not be able to give this kind of support and as the finding from Blomkvist et al. (2017) points

out, a no from any part of the company makes it difficult for the intrapreneur to continue with

the idea. This would argue for that a passive leadership inhibits the intrapreneurial behavior as

well as the effect from the intrapreneurial behavior, which according to the findings by

Antoncic and Hisrich (2003); Zahra and Covin (1995); Antoncic and Antoncic (2011) could

decrease the financial growth of the organization as it deteriorates the effect from

intrapreneurship.

Passive leadership can according to the study by Harold and Holtz (2015) lead to incivility in

the workplace; this was also evident in the study by Lee and Jensen (2014). Incivility in the

workplace could lead to negative effects in creativity, work performance and could end up with

high costs for the company. In the study by Yariv and Galit (2017) they investigated if incivility

has a negative impact on intrapreneurial behavior and could not make the conclusion that it was

the case. However, in our case study it was evident that intrapreneurial behavior did get a

negative effect from incivility. The interviewees pointed out how a negative work environment,

where they did not feel that they could talk freely without getting negative comments or where

they did not get support from their peers, they felt less creative and focused more on the uncivil

situation rather than creating new ideas. As passive leadership leads to incivility and incivility

in turn has a negative effect on intrapreneurial behavior, it would be arguable that a passive

leadership could inhibit intrapreneurial behavior.

The interviewees seemed to be more sensitive to incivility earlier in their careers, which made

them less likely to have the courage to present ideas and take risks, that would suggest that a

passive leadership has a more negative effect on intrapreneurial behavior when the intrapreneur

is younger or new in their career compared to later in their career. In light of that it would be

41

fair to suggest that avoiding passive leaders should be a greater concern when managing young

intrapreneurs.

The culture where they were more creative and prone to take risks was described as open and

allowing for mistakes, and it was important to work with people who complement each other

with their knowledge and competence. Harold and Holtz (2015) argue that a passive leader is

not good at managing the representation or reinforcement of appropriate behavior, which could

make it more difficult for a passive leader to create the environment required for intrapreneurial

behavior. In combination with them not being proactive and not acting, it would also be

reasonable to suggest that passive leaders would not take responsibility for creating thoughtful

working groups, as it would require them taking proactive decisions. It was also stressed by the

interviewees that it sometimes was necessary to bring in external expertise, in order for

creativity and innovation to thrive. This could argue for the need of an active leadership rather

than passive, as it needs to be facilitated by someone who has the mandate to make such a

decision, which normally is a leader or manager of some kind.

Providing tools and a physical environment that enables creative work which, according to the

interviewees seem to be of importance in order for intrapreneurial behavior to take place, would

also require the leader to act in advance which is not coherent with a passive leader.

Passive leaders usually deal with problems only when it is severe or even too late (Harold &

Holtz, 2015; Chênevert et al., 2013) the interviewees who had experienced this situation with a

leader not noticing that there is a problem until they approached the leader and it was too late,

explained that it made them lose their motivation to be creative and innovative. This effect from

passive leadership affects the intrapreneurial behavior in a negative sense. It was also apparent

from our case study that intrapreneurs find it difficult to engage in creative thinking and to

innovate when they have a lot of small recurring problems to solve. As a passive leader does

not act until a problem is very severe or has become chronic (Harold & Holtz, 2015; Chênevert

et al., 2013), it would suggest that the employees working under such a leader have a lot of

problems they have to deal with by themselves in the absence of their leader. It could therefore

be arguable that the individuals intrapreneurial behaviors would be inhibited in such situations.

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6. Conclusion and further research

Since the perspective from the intrapreneurs has been neglected (Neessen et al., 2019; Yariv &

Galit, 2017) and interrelations with intrapreneurs in a darker manner have been overlooked

(Yariv & Galit, 2017; Andersson & Pearson, 1999), and a passive leadership is an under

researched type of leadership (Holtz & Hu 2017). The intention of this thesis was to further

extend research about how leadership relates to intrapreneurs with the viewpoint from the

intrapreneurs. Our findings extend the work of Moriano et al. (2011) where they investigated

how leadership types relate to intrapreneurial behavior by focusing on passive leadership in

detail through a qualitative study instead of a quantitative. With the guidance of our theoretical

framework together with our case study we investigated what impact a passive leadership may

have on intrapreneurial behavior. Our interviewees expressed that their intrapreneurial behavior

was negatively impacted by the effects that current research suggest a passive leadership results

in. Our case study also showed that some of the attributes held by the interviewees former or

current leader that affected them negatively, were coherent with the attributes of a passive

leader. The effect these attributes lead to was expressed as something that inhibits their risk

tendency, creativity and innovativeness. In light of these findings it could be arguable that a

passive leadership inhibits the intrapreneurial behavior in intrapreneurs.

However, it seemed that a passive leadership can have a more apparent effect on intrapreneurs

in the earlier stages of their career. It could therefore be of interest to further investigate how

the importance of an active leadership differs between ages/phases in an intrapreneurs career.

From our case study it was evident that the intrapreneurs need to work autonomously, where a

passive leadership could have a positive effect, but they also explained that they need a

supportive and engaging leader. It could be interesting to further investigate where that line can

be drawn, how much leadership does an intrapreneur need before getting a claustrophobic

feeling? When does a supporting and engaging leadership start to inhibit intrapreneurial

behavior?

In our case study the majority of the intrapreneurs were negatively affected by incivility but

some of them also expressed that it sometimes motivated them to work harder or think

creatively in order to find a solution to the uncivil behavior. This seems to be a rather complex

43

and individual question and it could be something of interest to further investigate. What are

the factors that determine how much an intrapreneur gets affected by incivility?

The findings of this thesis could also be used as practical advice to managers who lead

intrapreneurs, and HR managers who recruit leaders to an organization where intrapreneurship

is of importance. The key takeaways that could help them is to make sure that the leaders should

not ignore listening to the ideas that are being presented to them. Leaders should not ignore

taking responsibility for creating an environment where it is okay to make mistakes, they should

be good at creating dynamic groups and be able to facilitate networking opportunities for the

intrapreneurs. The leaders should be mindful of how their engagement with the intrapreneurs

affect their ability to innovate, where having a tight dialogue would be helpful to create a good

relationship and build trust.

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7. Critical considerations and limitations

Because of the limitations in this thesis we have to acknowledge a few critical considerations

for our research. Due to time limitations we did not have the ability to find intrapreneurs that

we knew from beforehand have or have had passive leaders, therefore, the intrapreneurs was

the object of study. We instead looked at what affects their intrapreneurial behavior and put that

in relation to how the effects and characteristics of passive leadership acts in relation to the

individuals. If we could have found intrapreneurs that undeniably have had or have passive

leaders it could have given a more detailed and comprehensive analysis. Although Robinson

(2014) argues that a smaller sample size of 10 individuals is sufficient for an undergraduate

thesis, it should be emphasized that the data collected will not represent all intrapreneurs and

therefore, the results cannot generalize the opinions and thoughts of these individuals. It should

also be taken into consideration that the duration and nonrecurrence of each interview may limit

the results. A longer interview or as Polkinghorne (2005) suggests, having a follow-up

interview would enrichen the study, since one interview for one hour is not sufficient to achieve

rich enough data for the results. Polkinghorne (2005) also indicates that evidence of human

experiences have intrinsic limitations since it depends on the participants ability to reflect on

their own experiences, this should also be taken into consideration for our study. Furthermore,

we also have to acknowledge the interviews being conducted online instead of in a face to face

meeting. This might have impaired our ability to detect subtle expressions and body language

from the interviewees however, in order to minimize this as much as possible we used video

cameras during the interviews. Since we conducted the interviews in Swedish and at a later

stage translated the questions and answers to English, there is a chance that the interpretation

and meaning of the quotes might have been distorted. Therefore, when something was unclear,

we had the participant double check the quote to make sure that the meaning of the quote was

accurate before using it in the thesis.

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9. Appendices

9.1. Appendix 1: Interview Formalities

a) Study Information Sheet

Study Information Sheet

We are conducting a study regarding intrapreneurship and how leadership can affect intrapreneurial

behaviors in individuals. We therefore want to interview creative, innovative, risk-taking people from

all different types of business and positions. The study is being conducted by Vanessa Williamsson

and Sofie Bergman who both are doing their Bachelor's thesis at Stockholm Business School,

Stockholm University.

Your participation in this study is very valuable for us and we know that privacy is important.

Therefore, we will give you the option to opt out of any question you don’t want to answer. We will

also offer anonymity for both you and your company if wanted.

During the interview Vanessa Williamsson and Sofie Bergman will take notes and the interview will

be recorded. The recordings will only be available for Vanessa Williamsson and Sofie Bergman as

assistance later on in the writing process. If you wish to withdraw from the study any collected data

will be destroyed and left out of the thesis.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us at Vanessa Williamsson vanessa.williamsson@gmail.com Sofie Bergman sofie.bergman@live.com

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b) Consent form

Consent for participation in a research interview concerning the study on intrapreneurial behavior. I agree to participate in the interview led by researchers Sofie Bergman and Vanessa Williamsson, Students at Stockholm University and I have read and understood the following terms:

1. I am aware of what the study entails and the purpose for this interview. 2. My questions regarding the study have been clarified and no uncertainties exist in regards

to the study. 3. I understand that my participation is voluntary and that I can withdraw at any time without

consequences. 4. I agree to being audio recorded during the interview and understand that what I say will be

analyzed and used for the purpose of the study. 5. I am aware that the data collected will be used in a written study and my words may be

quoted in the text. 6. I am aware that if I want to withdraw from the study any data collected will not be used

and also be destroyed. Date: _______________________________________ Name of participant:___________________________ Signature of participant:________________________

Request for anonymity: ⃞ the participant ⃞ the company ⃞ both

Name of researcher 1:__________________________

Signature of researcher 1:_______________________

Name of researcher 2:__________________________

Signature of researcher 2:_______________________

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c) Interview guide

Introduction

1. Is everything clear regarding the interview and our study? a. recording

2. Can you tell us a little about what you do at your workplace and what your position looks like?

a. manager b. team

Intrapreneurial Behavior - Confirm that the person is an intrapreneur

1. Are you contributing to new ideas and initiatives in your workplace? 2. How have you seen that any of your initiatives have led to an

improvement or change in the company? 3. When would you say you are most creative?

a. Reason

Organizational support: risk tolerance & failure - Support from manager - Risk - Failure

1. When you start a new initiative / project. What kind of support do you want from your manager?

a. Running into problems b. Something the manager lacks

2. Do you take risks in your work? (Describe risk) a. Needs b. Communication c. Hesitation

3. Have you ever experienced that you did something that didn't turn out so good?

a. Reason b. Support and engagement

Incivility affect intrapreneurs & how it is managed by leaders - Work environment

1. How does the work environment affect your ability to perform or be creative?

a. Bad work environment b. Seen incivility c. Experienced incivility

2. How do you want your manager to engage in order to increase workplace satisfaction?

a. If the manager does not engage

Preferred leadership 1. How would you say an ideal manager would look like, in order for you to contribute to as much innovation as possible?

a. Any final advice to give to managers who are leading creative people

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9.2. Appendix 2: Table for Extracted Quotes

Data extract Coded for

I close the door and block calls, close out the world and sometimes I use the board here at the back and just sketch (Participant A)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Environment

If I want help, I take help, I don't want help, I don't take help." (Participant A)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship

If my boss would be more engaged at my level then it would definitely be positive. It could be anything from writing down information about something or just coming in and sit down with a cup of coffee, or just something... I think it would be pretty good effects from that. That if he were just a little more present, I think it would be a completely different atmosphere in the office as well. (Participant A)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship

there were a lot of problems because the manager was not clear and present [...] we were not a team, we shattered in all directions and bullying emerged and so much negativity (Participant A)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, lack of support, and relationship Sub-theme: Incivility

If I have the boss on board then I go on but as soon as I notice that the boss starts to become doubtful then I have to pull my own handbrake (Participant A)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, lack of support, and relationship

it inhibits, if I see this highway that "here I can drive as fast as possible" and then he [manager] starts to put out jersey barriers a little here and there. It does not stop me completely but it slows down my development or plan. So my tactics are always that I have to ground everything with facts, if I see like "here we have an opportunity" then I can't launch that idea directly but must do some research and comparisons, "is there even a possibility that this is going to be good?". As soon as I get the answer, for myself, I don't talk about it so much at this stage, but when I know that this can be good, that's when I start to talk with someone, ask them "What do you think about this?" (Participant A)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, lack of support, and relationship Sub-theme: Incivility

if the manager had been more involved in his staff, for example I like the word competency inventory to know what everyone can do. If he had known what each individual in his staff could do, then he could have placed them in a project in a better way. If he had engaged more, it would have eliminated the risk of failure. (Participant A)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, lack of support, and relationship

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I would have liked him to be involved at an early stage because if you have the boss with you, then he knows how I am going to "put out the fire" if anything than goes wrong, I do not need to defend myself in the same way, as to why that happened, because then he would already be involved. (Participant A)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, lack of support, and relationship Sub-theme: Incivility

you then put energy on everything negative, on all the problems that exist, that she who sits a few office desks away is an idiot instead of thinking about how to solve a problem you have. So I definitely think that a bad work environment, that a bad mood at work can affect quite a lot. (Participant A)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Incivility

and with this in mind, I put all my energy into something that has nothing to do with creativity (Participant A)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Incivility

then maybe I can build on that information with a creative thought instead of getting information from someone I don't trust, then maybe I put more effort into questioning the person than building on the idea (Participant A)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Incivility

"if it is one or two that had been annoying, then it would not have mattered, I probably would have just avoided them, like screw them. But if I had noticed that a larger majority in the office acted that way, then I would have asked myself, "what am I doing wrong?" started asking "what is it really about?" (Participant A)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Incivility

must try to get the office to work in the same direction, it can be to have the same focus area and try to form small groups or allocate responsibilities so that the individuals feel that they are doing something and then you can create groups that may not be entirely obvious but that they are forced to interact with each other. (Participant A)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Environment

I think a lot depends on new impressions, for me personally, one thing is to be challenged by something new. If I end up in a situation where it is repetitive, it is difficult to think new [...] it is new impressions that affect my creativity. For example, I find it very difficult when I sit here at home in the same room to come up with something new, I have to get out of here and do something else to get it. I'm not a person who can sit still in the same place to get that creativity started. (Participant B)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Environment

Freedom under responsibility, I think that is a pretty good attitude as a manager to give to a subordinate. Which means that you give a little bit broader assignments then the freedom for the employee to solve the problem that exists, or the work task. In the way they think is best. (Participant B)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship

I really think that building trust between each other is incredibly important [...] it is because of problems that has roused in the company I work for now and that I realized the importance of the problem with a lack of interpersonal relationship (Participant B)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship

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An initial meeting where you go through and set up points that you can measure against later…. Strong commitment early and then release it completely, and then be able to come back to it later. (Participant B)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship

I like taking risks. But not a foolish risk, that is important to say (Participant B)

Intrapreneurial behavior

being a little willing to take a side in a situation [...] so being able to take a position is what you want from your managers." (Participant B)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship Sub-theme: Environment

What I did specifically, I just wrote down all the instances, I kept an excel sheet, documented a little, then I can go to my manager and say, hey this has happened, these dates and times, do something about it [ ...] to write it down is a bit like relieving it. Instead of going around thinking about it (Participant B)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Incivility

Having good colleagues is incredibly important, that you sit in close proximity with people you want to be in close proximity with, you want to work with. I think that is incredibly important. If you sit next to some idiot, it becomes difficult to be creative, it bothers. (Participant B)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Incivility

A manager who is very innovative or creative himself, a role model basically, you must be able to look up to a person who is above you (Participant B)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship Sub-theme: Environment

Our boss is a person I look down on, it's a person I don't respect [...] That means I never go to her, I'm not inspired by her, she gives me nothing, she just drains." -Participant B

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, lack of support, and relationship Sub-theme: Incivility

Of course, I do not want the boss to not to care at all [...] you should have a well working relationship. (Participant B)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship Sub-theme: Environment

...currently working more internally with business development, innovation and product development (Participant C)

Intrapreneurial behavior

Usually, creativity usually starts somewhere in a demarcation, "what is the focus we should have?" (Participant C)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Environment

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What matters most is actually, quite a lot, the physical environment it's like a lot with what tools, what environment you are in. (Participant C)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Environment

a tight dialogue [...] as well as an openness and trust in each other (Participant C)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship

To have an open-minded culture and to dare to speak your mind is very important and especially if you do understand this when working with things that are creative and exploratory where you do not know in the end where you will actually land (Participant C)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship Sub-theme: Environment

"Many times I have taken help from my boss to get some power in things, get things to go faster or be prioritized or actually to get them to put their foot down, so I would say is a collaboration with my boss. (Participant C)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship Sub-theme: Environment

There is nothing worse than managers coming down and trying to help. [...] It's a bit like a chess game, when I play chess and I know exactly what to do next, what move, and then my boss comes and does my move for me, the first time it's okay "ah it might not be exactly as I had imagined..." but when it comes to the third or fourth time I lose motivation. (Participant C)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, lack of support, and relationship

I've had very few managers who I can actually learn something from [...] and it's pretty uninspiring to me, I want to do good things and want to learn something from those around me. (Participant C)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, lack of support, and relationship Sub-theme: Incivility

I have been very mindful with my boss and those around me, to work with confidence and psychological safety. So we try to take time off once a month when hiring an external facilitator, to have like a half day to work with group dynamics. How to become more efficient, how can we trust each other more, create a better flow [...] it creates a sense of security. (Participant C)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship Sub-theme: Environment

I would say more knowledge than commitment, definitely being invested in things really, but to understand you have to have some knowledge otherwise it is like working blindly, so I would say a combination of knowledge and commitment. (Participant C)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship Sub-theme: Environment

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I think it affects me quite little, but it is also because I have worked in so many different situations with so many different parts so it's something you have, like, learned to build up, not to be so affected, but then it is depending on the situation and my general state that day, if you have it rough outside work and have problems with personal things, clearly you are more affected by your work environment. (Participant C)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Incivility

then the question is whether you were treated so badly or if you were a little more insecure and actually you did a bigger thing of it than it actually was (Participant C)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Incivility

I think it's because you did not invest in the cultural part, actually creating the right cultural conditions, the right environment, how to actually behave towards each other, I often talk about some type of" Human OS "a human operating system, the soft values, how do we want to treat each other and be towards each other, the "how" is something you have to spend more time on. It is in the cultural part that most often the most important things come from, especially the creative bit, the cultural bit is alpha and omega, to really achieve those things. So more commitment to the culture, then how to go about it? Show how we treat each other, show what we value especially. Those things, how to treat each other especially. (Participant C)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship Sub-theme: Environment

The most important part I would say is facilitation, how to facilitate things, how much is prepared, what is it we are going through. Have designed tools in place, and then I do not mean that you take a card from some kind of play box but rather that you have thought it through, what are we going to accomplish with the day and actually motivate those parts. (Participant C)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship Sub-theme: Environment

It is about showing confidence, to back one another up, I have had managers that I resigned from immediately afterwards when I have set the conditions for how things should be and predict the future what happens if we do follow those conditions, and then when things went like this, which I predicted but then still got the blame for and then I can't stay. So trusting each other is most important. (Participant C)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, lack of support, and relationship Sub-theme: Incivility

There are experts in all sorts of areas, and it's totally okay for anyone to contact anyone and ask for help [within the company], and this is where you meet, as well as at different levels and between different knowledge centers, it does, of course. leads to innovation any time, and you come up with your ideas, it's a very good thing (Participant D)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Environment

I work with product development, that's my career path, very much product development (Participant D)

Intrapreneurial behavior

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I think it is good if the boss lets go of you, if he trusts me, it feels good to me, then as I said, to show interest is good. (Participant D)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship Sub-theme: Environment

they should not go in and micromanage, that is not good (Participant D)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, lack of support, and relationship

It was very frustrating for the whole team, and it created a low mood, you could say, then there were other ideas that we got to work on, so it wasn't that we stood completely still, but that idea, many of us agreed that it could have such potential and then we got rejected, and it lead to, well, it destroyed the spirit, the creative spirit (Participant D)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, lack of support, and relationship

But it's hard to judge how, really, I know that when you meet more people, you get more ideas. Usually? (Participant D)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Environment

If I come up with an idea for a colleague, "I've been thinking about this one thing, do you think it could work?" And he replies "it will never work" or "we have tried it before", or things like that, frustrating comments, then creativity dies completely (Participant D)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Incivility

yes, but I handle it better today, absolutely, I've learned [...] there are probably several things, partly you get used to it, you become confident, more confident in your own decisions, your own feeling as well, your own judgment, but then it is also, I think I think I learned to read other people better, you understand like "ah he is a guy, who has difficulties accepting new ideas and that's why he responds to it that way", well, then I don't have to think about it too much, I can try to meet him at his level, if I can, or I just ignore it (Participant D)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Incivility

you still have a period of I would guess 1.5 years where you are still prepared to fight in the headwind and try to win over some of the bull heads, or, like, try to change to the better, maybe use it as fuel for my creativity instead of kill it.... but after this time it dies. I have seen, very clearly after 1.5-2 years that there are very many who give up after that time, if you do not get the space, the confirmation you need (Participant D)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Incivility

the worst is if there is a questionnaire and you come out with a result, so everyone sees that, here we have a result, we know what to do, but they [the manager] does nothing (Participant D)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, lack of support, and relationship Sub-theme: Incivility

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A good example is a group of circus acrobats, who throw themselves into each other's arms on cords and such...who dares to make the coolest tricks? Those who have a safety net or those who do not have a safety net? Of course, it is those who have a safety net [...] people who encourage you instead, "it was still a good job, if you had never tried, we would never have known if it works or not”, if that kind of social safety nets are there you dare more. (Participant D)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship Sub-theme: Environment

the most important thing is that he lets me be free, that when I have my ideas I get to work with them, and that you have a clue on how much money you get to spend, what you can and can't do in any general terms so you don't have to ask every time for permission. It's a person who is interested in what I do, without getting too deeply involved, but still be involved, seeing how it goes, you have problems, you can come up with solutions, but not that you go in and micromanage (Participant D)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship Sub-theme: Environment

...that's one of my biggest selling points, when I am trying to sell myself as a worker, to be kind of an ideas man, but also in a proactive way take advantage of the ideas that exist and connect well with the organization, to push them forward (Participant E)

Intrapreneurial behavior

Working from home has given more time to see problems, to think about what structures work and which doesn’t. I think that the opportunity to have fewer meetings and more time between meetings, meet more companies and what I notice is that the combination of being able to meet digitally means that you have more time left to be able to analyze and think about what they do and what we do, which creates opportunities to be more creative. (Participant E)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Environment

My manager that I have today is very hands off [...] to let the employees manage their own time to a bigger extent, I would say is a catalyst for more innovative thoughts and ideas (Participant E)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship

attending conventions [...] a need to share other people's thoughts and ideas in a much more structured way than I can facilitate on my own initiative [...] A manager is the one who creates the prerequisites more than being an expert in the area, a good expert does not have to be a good manager. Therefore, I do not think that the manager needs to be an expert but rather just create the conditions, maybe bring in someone who is an expert and help you facilitate meetings with the right person to get the right feedback (Participant E)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship Sub-theme: Environment

Support gradually is something that I appreciate and above all, to be able to discuss ideas and thoughts (Participant E)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship

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Not intervene but would definitely like to have them available in a way that I do not feel I need support, but that you have the sounding board to discuss the needs or the problem that is, in many cases the problem is solved just talking about them (Participant E)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship

I think a very good way for a manager to do that is status meetings, have a clear set aside time where we say that, this time is repeated every week and that you discuss whether you have something or not, you talk, then there is a clear platform to put up and build trust (Participant E)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship

I would say that I rather take a risk that could fall pretty hard rather than not try at all (Participant E)

Intrapreneurial behavior

What I think is important is to know that your leader has your back and to know that the person will at least try to stand by me, even if I was wrong. That I'm sure that the person supports me, [...] doing a quality check on everything you do is why you need time with the leader and to be able to have them as a sounding board (Participant E)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship

to meet others and hear their thoughts [...] that when you hear problems from other perspectives, and it does not have to be that you have to develop their particular idea but that you hear something and interpret it in some way and maybe look at it from a completely different perspective (Participant E)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Environment

It is important that if you think this is perfect and can go out to the customer directly, then you should really hold back and work even more through this clear structure and process that exists, to promote more innovation. (Participant E)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Environment

If a manager sees a clear trend that some type of competence always seems to be needed in his employees, then I would definitely say that it takes proactivity, striving to find the kind of gap in the process or structure that can be filled with expertise and competence. (Participant E)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship Sub-theme: Environment

I would not associate it with not having enough help, but more that I have not sought help. Which, in turn, may be a consequence of not having the structure needed to ask for help or not feeling brave enough to ask for help (Participant E)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, lack of support, and relationship

you have to make mistakes but maybe early in the process, to have such a culture, then you might dare to ask for help and maybe to a manager other than your own and say "this I would need from you" and then if you might have been wrong until now and what was asked was completely crazy then it should not be met with "oh you are so incompetent, I will tell your boss" but then it should be more "ah i understand but I think you may have thought a little wrong so far, so here's how to fix it (Participant E)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship Sub-theme: Environment

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I strongly believe that both the physical and mental environment are like vital components for being creative, the mental, it is a lot between employees, if you dare to talk about things, how creative are other employees, is it a discussion where everyone is very creative then you become creative yourself and get caught up in the same processes. Otherwise, you can hire external people who may be able to help with creativity (Participant E)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Environment

Being able to move around and have common meeting places where you can meet spontaneously is, after all, super important. There are such case studies, Apple's new office is completely built around creating these meeting points that you will encounter people in these places so that then more creativity and innovation will be created at those hubs (Participant E)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Environment

Now that I think about it, I probably haven't reflected on it before, but when talking creativity and how people talk, it has a HUGE impact on that kind of activity. A hostile environment is an environment where you are definitely not creative (Participant E)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Incivility

that's my guess, if you are in a defensive position mentally it is very difficult to think from other perspectives, you are then very focused on yourself, what you say and think and then it becomes difficult to see from other perspectives which can be what promotes creativity (Participant E)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Incivility

You should have the same clear goals and high ceilings, so you are able to discuss things with one and other, then tons of ideas will come up (Participant F)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Environment

But having them in the process is a very important part and then the question is like this; who should you incorporate into the process and is that the person who can say no in the end. Whoever has the mandate to say no is the person who must be in the decision group (Participant F)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship

I am very risk-taking as a person in general (Participant F) Intrapreneurial behavior If I had completely free hands, which is perhaps lucky that I do not have, then it would have derailed here a long time ago [...] the management that we have, they make sure to guide it right, so that we take the right initiative (Participant F)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship

A big room here where we sit and work, the walls are covered with whiteboards, you can always get things up, you can test things, or draw things, write things, it's more about having the right kind of equipment in place when you need it too, but there is also an environment that needs to be inspiring, which is why we also have a shared office space, right in the middle of the city, and there it is an environment for inspiration (Participant F)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Environment

there is an environment to meet people outside the bank, so you get different perspectives and other ideas, be able to talk to a non-banker at the coffee machine, and say what do you do? Or what is your relationship with banks? And get other insights, then inspiration and creativity will come from it (Participant F)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Environment

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It is very much about supporting and understanding (Participant F)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Environment

It can be both and, sometimes I can be more motivated by that like, damn I'm going to prove to this old man or old lady that they are wrong (Participant F)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Incivility

It can be both beneficial and hindering many times, but it is really about daring to take the next step if you really believe in it, and it is not easy if you are a new employee or if you feel you are youngest in the group or for some reason like; "why am I worth listening to?", you might not have been able to justify it for yourself either yet (Participant F)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Incivility

that is when you feel free, although you feel that you have very clear outer frames, you know what to relate to, you know the big picture, then that you are released, and that you feel support, especially I feel that it is okay to make mistakes [...] it's a high ceiling, and that one can be straight and clear with communication and criticism [...] preferably that you need the complement, you need someone who has other qualities, be able to have a person who is a little calmer, steady, thoughtful, straight, clear, confident so there are all individuals in the group (Participant G)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship Sub-theme: Environment

you get them different angles are very valuable in a project, it may be something that I do not understand at all, aha this is not very given, as I feel that I may have greater strength and it also makes me a more creative person (Participant G)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Environment

responsive to it, bad destructive behaviors within the group, because it can destroy a lot and it destroys everyone's self-confidence (Participant G)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, lack of support, and relationship Sub-theme: Incivility

everyone should have good self-confidence, it is important in a group that everyone feels needed, everyone makes you feel you are doing a good job, is all basic things, if you feel normal then you are happy and then you also do a good job (Participant G)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Environment

it is more of a feeling, that you feel that the manager is there, and have control, you do not want a flaky or like, I would not be a good boss, because I would be just too spasmodic, like or it would not be.., a manager should be there, do what you ask for, more like a safe base as well (Participant G)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship

I don't expect a manager to solve everything, a manager just tells me which way to go, “go there and then you come to me if there is a problem, if you don't get the help you need there, come to me again”, no more than that (Participant G)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship

it is better that you are a leader and that you lack some other skills (Participant G)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship

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If there is something that the manager is not so involved in, then it can also suffice for me to just activate the manager, saying that “now I do this, what do you think?” And that, then it is perfectly okay that he has not thought about it before, but that he do it now, that he is there (Participant G)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship

Mostly that you feel that you have ended up with competent people who have are in the right place and have the right job [...] you always have to trust your colleagues, I can't question someone who calculated all the numbers or something, then I have to trust it (Participant G)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Environment

then it is good that you feel that you are a good team and that you have personal relationships as well, with those you work with, it makes me work better, because then, then I feel that I can read signals, if you do not know someone at all then you become much more cautious, when you can read the surroundings, it promotes you to come up with good ideas (Participant G)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Environment

when you feel alone, that I did not get the support of someone else, and then it is not just the boss but that you maybe yeah .. and then you have encountered someone like "this will not work, this will not hold, that will not… ”if there is any such thing then I crash down, it makes me yeah .. I throw the whole idea in the trash, it is very dangerous (Participant G)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, lack of support, and relationship Sub-theme: Incivility

when you get older, you become more confident in yourself and you know that, there are idiots, there are a lot of idiots, you can only learn to handle them [...] somehow you do, but it is as with everything, with self-confidence, is, in the beginning [...] it was much more difficult when I was young and newly graduated (Participant G)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Incivility

Yeah but you don't understand it then and there, because you just think you have performed bad, it can be a few years later when you do the same thing again in another company, and then it works much better, that [support] wasn't even there back then, it's no wonder I couldn't perform better (Participant G)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, lack of support, and relationship

open landscapes are very good, you keep track at many and many different things, and I think it's a little nice feeling that you have it (Participant G)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Environment

I think it is very difficult because eh, partly because I am ashamed of the one who is nasty and then I want to feel sorry for the person who is affected, and then you should come in as a third party even though I do not have anything to do with it, or I just observe it and that is even worse [...] it takes focus, and then I get a bad feeling and without a good feeling I will not be creative (Participant G)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Incivility

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in the best of all worlds, I would have had a manager who stepped in and said that this is not okay, got a hold of the situation (Participant G)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, lack of support, and relationship Sub-theme: Incivility

Among other things, yes, exactly, both the introduction of new routines, and efficiency improvements, if we will work with a new system here, work in a different way with the setup of colleagues and skills have changed due to reorganization or similar, then we need to implement what we do and then I have been involved and then made sure that people can then continue on it so that everyone is not dependent on me (Participant H)

Intrapreneurial behavior

when you are passionate about what you do and have fun with what you work with, but also when you sit in a room with people who are a lot much smarter than yourself, then you are forced to send out these tentacles and are forced to open themselves up in another way, become receptive because you cannot do anything about what is being discussed or you can trust that the others in the room can do much more, that they are smart and have attacked it in another way that makes you feel that here I have something to learn, it is mainly then that I feel creative (Participant H)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Environment

the manager must be knowledgeable in areas to be able to show that you understand the employee's everyday life and that you understand the condition and challenges they have, you do not need to understand it in depth but you can form an idea of it (Participant H)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship

if my manager thinks there is a need then I want my manager to take the fight to take it high to higher level and resolve resources [...] support, understanding but also honesty (Participant H)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship

sometimes campaign our case in other contexts just to set the stage so we can do our job more efficiently (Participant H)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship

The best way you can be a really great manager is to actually set the target image, provide the tools needed, set the stage and then stay away and support where needed. [...] to support when I need the drive. It almost becomes a bit like parent-child relationship, you want the security, the support and the love, the confidence, the tools [...] I like to try my own wings and when I believe in something I just want you to believe me and support me. (Participant H)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship

I think that if a manager should lack the interest in what we do or insight into what we do also lack, in lack of better words, the balls for being able to stand up for us in situations where we need to push through or kick in doors (Participant H)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship

64

a lot of times it is about the individual dialogue between me and my manager where you feel the trust, but also that you see in practice that the manager actually lives up to what the manager says. And then you notice that if someone in the team did something, like it was a "super fail" [...] That you have a learning culture, a learning mentality where all we do is we learn not doing mistakes. I also think that the risk propensity even for those who may not dare to take as much risk, which is not like me, increases, or that they dare [...] I believe a learning culture, an understanding culture, an understanding manager and being accepting of failure (Participant H)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship

it's super important, not necessarily be friends with everyone, but I think you have to work actively in some way, just like working with a relationship, to keep things alive and to build relationships with your colleagues in a way so you are more like a team (Participant H)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Environment

most important from the manager's side is that you are responsive, insightful, supportive, that you actually not only listen to "ah you want to do this, fun" but also ask the question "why do you want to do this?" (Participant H)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship

especially I think because it was such an encouraging and exciting part of it and it is very important to me, to get motivation to not only hear when things go bad but also get encouragement as well [...] especially from managers (Participant I)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship

have time, I think, to be a little creative and when it is like you get a lot of responsibility and confidence to just go, that no one is watching and looking over your shoulder all the time as well. (Participant I)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship

if there is a fire in all the projects that I'm handling, then I do not think for a second how we can improve the company "this we should do" it does not happen (Participant I)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, lack of support, and relationship

kind of atmosphere at work I would say, it also affects a lot (Participant I)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Environment

But if it is initiatives to improve internally then it is more to have confidence in their manager (Participant I)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship

That people are positive towards it and that it is welcomed to come up with ideas (Participant I)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Environment

That there are people, there is an exchange where you complement each other, and I have felt very much that I am good at some stuff and others in my team are good at other stuff which makes it easy to proceed and discuss things (Participant I)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Environment

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I am very prone to take initiative, be creative, I feel that I have the ability to connect many things, see the bigger picture, see things maybe others do not see or grasp things that fall between the chairs (Participant J)

Intrapreneurial behavior

..there I also had the support and when you have that it leads to results, it is not possible to get that far if you do not get the creative freedom to to anything (Participant J)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship Sub-theme: Environment

I am the most creative when I have a lot of freedom [...] I need to be able to build my own way of working, how are we getting there, who do we need on board etc. I need to be able to figure that out on my own, that is when an intrapreneur is at their best (Participant J)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship Sub-theme: Environment

then the working environment is very important to me, it has been a challenge on xxx, they are old boring premises from the 60s, it is very difficult (Participant J)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Environment

I gather a lot of inspiration and thoughts from the environment that I am in, people that I see, I love to just sit in cafes and like to look at people, I do not know what is going on in the brain but something happens, be out and go on walks or…. Everything that doesn't include having to be in an office, I think. (Participant J)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Environment

It is incredibly important that this culture exists that it is really high ceilings for real (Participant J)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Environment

In that sense he was very good as my manager, to clear the obstacles that put a stop for me and use his contacts. I think it is also important that when you are the manager of a intrapreneur that you do not let the administration work weigh down, because it is not there the intrapreneur should work, that person should create (Participant J)

Theme: Enhances Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, support and relationship

I got burned out of course hehe, it's a kind of negative, if you are a type of person who wants a lot and work in an environment where you don't really have the support, like, you don't have the leadership, you feel you don't have someone who believes in you the way that you do yourself, as you believe in yourself, because I feel that I am valuable and have something to contribute with absolutely, but .. I think, ... ..it will be damn difficult as well, for both parties really, and if you become frustrated the energy is directed in the wrong direction (Participant J)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, lack of support, and relationship Sub-theme: Incivility

there will be no focus on doing a good job and being creative and doing good things, it is more about internal politics [...] the energy is only spent on managing internal politics, the focus is not on solving the problems (Participant J)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Incivility

66

you feel that you do not have the support, that you do not fit in, all those things, it becomes very difficult. I have not been myself at such workplaces, I have lost who I am, my soul, why I even work there and values have started to chafe too (Participant J)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Incivility

It's hard when you get lost like that and lose yourself and start to doubt yourself, it's hard, it takes time to come back from it [...] I think managers generally don't really understand how they actually affect people (Participant J)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, lack of support, and relationship Sub-theme: Incivility

If you want a lot and work in an environment where you do not really have the support, like, you do not have the leadership, you feel that you do not have someone who believes in you in the way that you do yourself, as you believe in yourself, because I feel that I am valuable and have something to contribute with, absolutely, but .. I think, ... it will be so damn difficult, for both parties really, and then you get frustrated and the energy is directed in the wrong direction (Participant J)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, lack of support, and relationship

But at other jobs where I have not been in the culture that mistakes can be learning, then it has become more reprimands and promises, some problems, ah like that, you would have wanted more conversation (Participant J)

Theme: Inhibits Sub-theme: Leadership attributes, lack of support, and relationship Sub-theme: Incivility

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