HR training practices and innovative work behaviour: a moderated mediation model

The present study aims to explore the relationship between HR training practices, proactivity, learning goal orientation and innovative behaviors in work contexts. It is hypothesized that proactivity plays a mediating role in the relationship between HR training practices and innovative behavior and that learning goal orientation positively interacts with training practices, increasing the strength of the association with proactivity and innovative behavior. Data was collected on a sample of 384 workers from 15 SMEs in central Italy. The results showed that HR training practices can facilitate innovative work behaviors partly through proactivity and that learning goal orientation moderates the relationship between HR training practices and innovative behaviors. Advancing from the existing studies, this article introduces a mechanism and a condition through which HR training practices influence innovative work behaviors, through the activation of proactivity processes and interacting with learning goal orientation.