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Top1. Introduction
Tourism companies operate in a competitive world, where innovation is an essential condition for the survival of companies (Sundbo et al., 2007). A more dynamic and rapidly changing business environment has forced the hospitality industry to resort to effective leadership processes as a way of motivating employees to obtain the desired results (Huertas-Valdivia et al., 2019). Leadership plays a key role in promoting firm innovativeness (Khan et al., 2020). The definition of leadership has changed considerably in the last decades, the initially concept linked to the figure of “great man” fell out of use, the most recent approaches focus on the transformational dimension of the leader (Brownell, 2010). This dimension is reflected in a collaborative and relationship attitude, establishing open communication, forming and supporting the team effort and providing the necessary resources to fulfil a shared vision (Brownell, 2010; Humphreys & Einstein 2003; Stone et., 2004).
Leadership is a critical factor in organizations, as it can affect goals, visions, strategy, social environment and employee motivation (Yukl, 2013). Leadership is the ability to influence others to voluntarily make decisions that promote the short and long-term growth of companies (Nejad & Rowe, 2009).
Pioneering leadership studies originate from Ohio and Michigan Universities identified two main types of behavior among the surveyed leaders. Leadership oriented to people, as the leader is attentive to subordinates, respects their ideas and feelings and establishes mutual trust. On the other hand, task-oriented leadership, the degree to which the leader is task-oriented and directs subordinate work activities to achieve the goal (Daft, 2008).
To make the right decisions, managers need to know how to balance their technical and social skills in the right combination, promoting relationships and interactions that lead to communication processes that have to be effective in order to motivate and lead others (Page & Connell, 2009).
To survive in the present business changing environment, companies realized that the ability to change and adapt was inevitable. Leading change management has become the main concern of all executives. In this context, transformational and charismatic leadership theories arise (Gill et al., 2005).
Uncertainty and constant market changes lead companies to develop innovative activities, hoping that they will contribute to improving business performance (Chen, 2017). In an empirical study of companies listed on the Fortune 1000, it was concluded that the innovation was positively related to organizational growth and profitability (Cho & Pucik, 2005). However, this relationship between innovation and performance is not deterministic, it is affected by different factors, such as, internal capital, external market and other environmental issues (Huang & Rice, 2009).
Tourism is the largest industry in the world and is one of the most dynamic and vibrant sectors of the world economy (Costa et al., 2014; Devaraja &Deepak, 2014). The World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC, 2019) research reveals that the Tourism sector accounted for 10.4% of global GDP and 319 million jobs, or 10% of total employment in 2018. In fact, the tourism industry is an economic driver worldwide and, in Portugal, it was responsible for 20% of the country's exports and 58% of exports in the services area (Costa et al., 2018).
This article analyses the relationship between innovation and performance and looks at whether different leadership styles enhance this relationship.
The application of a moderation model results from the application of a survey to professionals in the four and five-star hotel sector.