185 Organizacija, Volume 53 Issue 3, August 2020Research Papers 1 Received: 20th March 2020; revised: 27th May 2020; accepted: 28th June 2020 Fostering Frontline Employees’ Innovative Service Behavior: The Role of Workplace Friendship and Knowledge Sharing Process Irfan HELMY1, Wiwiek Rabiatul ADAWIYAH2, Harini Abrilia SETYAWATI1 1Putra Bangsa Economics College, Department of Management, Kebumen, Indonesia, risetirfan@gmail.com, harini.abrilia.setyawati@gmail.com 2Jenderal Soedirman University, Faculty of Economics and Business, Purwokerto, Indonesia, wiwiekra@gmail.com (corresponding author) Background and purpose: The hospitality industries need to create benevolent work environment and social ac- tivities that stimulate frontline service employees (FLEs) innovative behavior. Drawing on social capital theory, this study aims to examine the influence of workplace friendship on promoting FLEs’ innovative service behavior. This study also examines the mediating role of knowledge sharing process (knowledge collecting and knowledge donat- ing) on the relationship between workplace friendship and FLEs’ innovative service behavior. Design/Methodology/Approach: For data collection, the convenience sampling method is applied to survey 163 frontline employees in 3- and 4-stars tourist hotels located in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The present study performed structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) software Smart-PLS v3.0 to test the hypotheses. Results: The result showed that workplace friendship has significant influence on FLEs’ innovative service behavior. Also, this study empirically found that workplace friendship influence FLEs’ innovative service behavior directly and indirectly trough knowledge collecting. Interestingly, knowledge donating has insignificant effect on FLEs innovative service behavior. Conclusion: We conclude that workplace friendship could create a favorable work environment that fostering FLEs innovative service behavior trough knowledge sharing process. Therefore, this research adds to the body of knowl- edge by pointing out the influence of workplace friendship and knowledge sharing process on FLEs innovative ser- vice behavior. This present study also provides the human resource practice regarding how to nurturing workplace friendship that stimulates FLEs innovative work behavior. Keywords: Frontline service employees, Innovative service behavior, Workplace friendship, Knowledge collecting, Knowledge donating DOI: 10.2478/orga-2020-0012 1 Introduction Existing literature focuses on the hospitality industry has primarily emphasized the critical role of frontline employ- ees (FLEs) on service performance. Frontline workers in- teract with the customer personally (Ordanini & Parasur- aman, 2011) and create impressive guest-host interaction, rather than narrowly focusing on routine operational work as a means of building customer experience and loyalty. They have to capture customers’ needs and capable of im- proving products and services innovatively. Innovation is a key competency that helps workers dealing with their unpredictable novel tasks. Medallia Institute surveyed frontline employees of hospitality, retail and financial ser- 186 Organizacija, Volume 53 Issue 3, August 2020Research Papers vices companies in the U.S. The result concluded that 56% of FLE possessing brilliant ideas that could improve their companies’ practices, and 43% alleged that their insights could reduce costs of service delivery (Benjamin, 2016). The Medallia study punctuated FLEs as a wealth of an or- ganization. The workers dazzling knowledge and intuition may be used as the organizational think-tank to face the fast-paced nature of business competition. Despite the conventional wisdom, there is an ongoing debate on the importance of fostering innovative behaviors among frontline employees in service settings. The man- agement literature highlights the need for business firms to doggedly foster innovative behaviors among frontline em- ployees, no matter the cost in order to survive the constant state of radical transformation (Santos-Vijande et al. 2016; Engen, & Magnusson, 2015). Recent studies pinpoint the prominence of nurturing FLEs innovative behavior in ser- vice organizations. Leaders should encourage their FLEs to be more innovative (Ozkok et al. 2019; Al-Hawari, Melhem, & Shamsudin, 2019) to survive the onslaught of business competition. In the meantime, pieces of literature revealed the fac- tors that might inhibit FLEs’ innovative service behavior. Lack of support from the organization and the absence of reward for creative behaviors are among the factors that hinder employees’ innovative service behavior (Yeşil & Hırlak, 2013). Most frontline employees are anxious about risk, and they are reluctant to propose new ideas at work, which slows down the service innovation process (Melton & Hartline, 2010). Addressing this point, managers should create favorable workplace environments aiming at solv- ing the obstacles and, in turn, encourage FLEs’ innovative service behavior. Past studies have massively explored the antecedents of FLEs’ innovative service behavior, such as learning goal orientation (Montani, Odoardi, & Battistelli, 2014), knowledge sharing (Kim & Lee, 2013), managerial sup- port (Wynen et al. 2019), leadership (Yidong, & Xinxin, 2013) and social interaction (Michael, Hou, & Fan, 2011). In this study, we focus on the relationship between work- place friendship and FLEs innovative service behavior. The focus of the study is motivated, particularly by the fact that the research is still reported inconsistent and inconclusive findings. For instance, Okoe et al. (2018) examined the relationship between human resource prac- tice outcomes and service innovation from across service industries in Ghana. Contrary to previous studies, They found that the interaction of workplace friendship and knowledge sharing had no significant effect on service in- novation. Another study, Maria, Jong, & Zacharias (2017), also stated that support form colleagues weakened the re- lationship between job engagement and FLEs innovative service behavior in the banking and finance sector. This re- search gap calls for more studies to reinvestigate the corre- lation between workplace friendship and FLEs innovative service behavior in different context (Okoe et al., 2018). Testing the model in wider context shall increase the gen- eralizability of the theory, therefore adds value to the body of knowledge in the field. This research was conducted in tourist hotels located in Indonesia. Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics of Indonesia (BPS) showed a proliferation of occupancy rates of hotels in Indonesia by 4,54% in 2019, and approximately 28% of hotel guests were a foreign tourist. Thus, the following research is nec- essary to assist professionals in finding the best way to promote FLEs innovative behavior to face the increasing complexity oh hotel guests’ demands and to anticipate the uncertain novel duties of their jobs. Furthermore, in building a relationship between work- place friendship and FLEs’ innovative service behavior, this study posits the role of the knowledge sharing pro- cess as a mediating variable. The new insight may resolve the inconclusive findings on workplace friendship-inno- vation relationship observed in the most relevant litera- tures. This study provides research contributions in several primary ways. First, this study extends prior research on the connection between workplace friendship and FLEs innovative service behavior. Second, by integrating the knowledge sharing process, this study has investigated the underlying process of how workplace friendship leads to FLEs’ innovative service behavior via knowledge collect- ing and knowledge donating. Third, this study extended the generalization of the research model by the context tourist hotel sector in Indonesia. Finally, the findings of this paper can bring attention to the tourist hotel’s management in the case of nurturing the friendly work environment that increasing FLEs innovative service behavior. 2 Literature Review 2.1 Innovative Service Behavior Innovative behavior is a form of individual engagement in the innovation process, including initiative and application of an idea, product, or procedure (Scot & Bruce, 1994). Previous studies agreed that innovation is different from creativity; even some research are often used the terms in- terchangeably (Farr & Ford, 1990; Scot & Bruce, 1994). Creativity is a process of creating an idea, while innovative subsequent provided an idea until an implementation or application process. Accordingly, creativity is a compo- nent of innovation. Based on their seminal work, Scot & Bruce (1994) stated that innovative behavior is viewed as a multi-stage process that is starting from problem recog- nition, generating an idea or solution, and seek a coalition to support the idea. Finally, the last stage is completing the concept by producing the model or product of innovation. De Jong & Hartog (2010) developed four distinctive stages of innovative behavior, namely idea exploration, idea-gen- erating, idea championing, and idea implementation. First 187 Organizacija, Volume 53 Issue 3, August 2020Research Papers stage, idea exploration includes looking for ways to im- prove current products, services, or processes. Idea gen- eration is the stage where individuals use their creativity to create something new and beneficial to the progress of an organization or company. Idea promotion is the stage of finding and gathering partners, sponsors, or supporters of ideas that have been generated. Moreover, the last stage after idea promotion is idea realization, which includes implementing or realizing ideas in the work environment. This study explored the effect of workplace friendship on innovative service behavior. According to Wang & Hou (2015), individual innovative behavior strongly depends on their quality network relationship (e.g., friendship) at the workplace because this kind of relationship provided the necessary information, resources, and support which help an employee to promote and realize their new ideas. 2.2 Workplace Friendship, Knowledge Sharing Process and Innovative Service Behavior Sias & Cahill (1998) have a focus on developing a friend- ship relationship in the workplace. They found that in- creasing frequent and intimate interaction in the workplace shall foster workplace friendship. Berman, West, & Richter (2002) defined workplace friendship as a non-exclusive re- lationship at work that involves mutual trust, commitment, reciprocal liking, and shared interest and values. Morrison (2004) also mentioned that workplace friendship colored by voluntary, reciprocal, and equality relationships. Re- cently, Pillemer & Rothbard (2018) explained four dis- tinctive characteristics of workplace friendship, namely informality, voluntary, socio-emotional, communal norms. The first element, voluntary and informality, means that friendship among co-workers is not formally initiated by the organization, and there is a lack of standard (non-hi- erarchical) in the relationship (Berman, West, & Richter, 2002; Sias et al. 2004). Second, workplace friendship is characterized by the communal norm and social support. The main goal of relationship is to provide support among friends and foster affective and relational wellbeing (Mor- rison & Cooper-Thomas, 2016). Previous researches have acknowledge several benefits of workplace friendships, such as reduced stress, turnover intention, and increased job satisfaction and organizational commitment (Morri- son, 2004). Further, workplace friendship has improved performance (Hsu et al. 2016; Berman, West, & Richter, 2002) and job involvement (Riordan & Griffeth, 1995). However, several studies also pointed out the negative out- comes of friendship at work. For instance, negative gossip, instrumental goal conflict, decreased loyalty, low produc- tivity, and negative politic in the organization (Song & Olshfski, 2008; Pillemer & Rothbard, 2018). But overall, friendship has a beneficial effect on individuals and organ- izations (Zarankin & Kunkel, 2019). In their study Kratzer, Leenders & Engelen (2006) assert that human interaction in the organization was the critical antecedent to innova- tion. It means that employees’ innovativeness depends on collaboration among employees (Gottfridsson, 2014). Besides, workplace friendship, as a social collectiveness, motivates employees to share ideas and method in order to solve problems or to generate new products (Faraj & Wasko, 2001). Thus, we proposed the following hypoth- esis: H1: Workplace friendship has a significant influence on FLEs’ innovative service behavior. H2: Workplace friendship has a significant influence on knowledge collecting. H3: Workplace friendship has a significant influence on knowledge donating. 2.3 Mediating Role of Knowledge Sharing Process Knowledge sharing is defined as a process where individu- als mutually exchange tacit or explicit knowledge to create new knowledge (Van Den Hooff & De Ridder’s, 2004). However, conceptually, terminology of knowledge shar- ing is often interchangeable with the concept of knowledge transfer and knowledge exchange (Zheng, 2017). Several studies have provided clear limitations about the differ- ences between knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer in the knowledge management literature (Tangaraja et al., 2016). Knowledge sharing is a series of actions carried out by an individual (people to people process) within an organization member while knowledge transfer is used primarily to describe the movement of knowledge be- tween larger entities in the organization, such as between departments or divisions or organizations themselves. On the other hand, knowledge exchange is an individual activity within organizations that do knowledge sharing and knowledge-seeking (individuals who seek knowledge from their colleagues) (Paulin & Suneson, 2015). In this current study, social capital theory was em- ployed in linking workplace friendship, knowledge shar- ing process, and innovative service behavior. The concept of social capital explains the organizational resources that arose from the interaction between members, involving knowledge exchange or knowledge management activities (Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998, p. 243). Recent knowledge management literature has considered social capital as the main instrument that facilitates knowledge sharing and in- novation in the organization. For instance, Weerakoon et al. (2019) investigated the linkage between links between social capital, opportunity-motivation-abilities, knowl- edge creation, and innovativeness within R&D teams in Iran. They found that strength of the ties among the organ- izational members leads to knowledge creation, and signif- icantly promoted innovativeness. Another study, Akhavan & Hosseini (2015), indicated that social capital was asso- 188 Organizacija, Volume 53 Issue 3, August 2020Research Papers ciated with knowledge sharing behavior that, in turn, was significantly related to innovation capability. Past studies has recognized interpersonal trust as the critical compo- nent of workplace friendship that motivate employee to participate in knowledge sharing activity (Sias et al. 2004; Wu et al. 2009). In this view, this present study analyzed the role of workplace friendship as the form of social cap- ital on delivering knowledge sharing process and innova- tive work behavior in organization. Knowledge management literature showed that the knowledge sharing process involve both efforts of bring- ing and getting knowledge. Ardichvili, Page & Wentling (2003) noted that knowledge sharing consists of “knowl- edge supply” and “knowledge demand” while Oldenkamp (2001) divided knowledge sharing process into “knowl- edge carrier” and “knowledge requester”. Another study by Van Den Hooff and De Ridder’s, (2004: 118) proposed knowledge sharing process as “knowledge donating” and “knowledge collecting” activity. Knowledge donating is an activity of communicating intellectual capital to other colleagues, while knowledge collecting is about strength- ening colleagues so they can persuade them to share their intellectual capital. This study investigates the role of knowledge col- lecting and knowledge donating as mediating variables between workplace friendship and FLEs innovative ser- vice behavior. The nomological validity of the model was based on the previous research model addressing the ante- cedents and consequences of innovative service behavior (Tierney & Farmer, 2002). Akram et al. (2018) mentioned that these two forms of knowledge sharing have their own individual standing and effects in the literature. For in- stance, Kim & Lee (2013) examined the effects of goal orientation on innovative service behavior with knowledge sharing as the mediator in a survey on 418 FLEs hotel in Korea. They found the positive association between learn- ing goal orientation and innovative service behavior via knowledge sharing process. In addition, the study indicat- ed that knowledge collecting is a more reliable predictor of innovative service behavior. Another study, Kamasak, and Bulutlar (2009) emphasized that knowledge donat- ing did not have any impact on innovation. Similarly, Lin (2007) found a significant positive relationship between ICT use and knowledge collecting, but no significant re- lationship with knowledge donating. These different find- ings revealed that knowledge collecting and knowledge processing were two distinct types of knowledge sharing processes that have a different and separated effect in re- search literature. Previous studies revealed that knowledge sharing significantly improve individual innovation, absorptive capacity, and innovativeness (Yesil & Hirlak, 2013; Hau, Kim, Lee & Kim, 2013). The success of knowledge shar- ing process relies on employees who are actively sharing their knowledge. In the service context, the employee who engages in knowledge sharing activity are willingly to share more information (e.g., customer needs, market trend) to their colleagues. Astonishingly, a person who share information are also collect information from coun- terparts simultaneously. Another attributing factor that drives knowledge sharing behavior is individual percep- tions of social interaction within the organization (Intezari, Pauleen, and Taskin, 2017). Positive perceptions lead to better sharing acts compared to the negative one. In ad- dition, the closeness of relationships between individuals, beliefs, friendship relationships, and informal communica- tion patterns are factors that encourage individuals to share knowledge (Janet and Alton, 2013). On the base of above literature and arguments, we proposed hypothesis: H4: Knowledge donating have a positive relationship on the innovative service behavior. H5: Knowledge collecting have a positive relationship on the innovative service behavior. H6: Knowledge donating mediates the relationship between workplace friendship and innovative service be- havior. H7: Knowledge collecting mediates the relationship between workplace friendship and innovative service be- havior. 3 Methodology 3.1 Sample and Procedure The participant of the study were frontline employees of hotels located in Yogyakarta, one of the provinces with the most significant growth of creative industries and tourism in Indonesia. The targeted hotels were located in the vicin- ity of well-known tourist destinations in the area including Parangtritis, Malioboro and Keraton. Respondents were limited to frontline workers of the hotels that deal directly with customers in their jobs. Thus, included participants were those in the front office, in charge of room services, as well as serving food and beverages to the hotel guests. Before data collection, the research team initially contact the HR managers in each hotel for permit. Out of fifteen hotels invited to participate in the survey, three refused to take part due to their confidential policy. Self-adminis- tered questionnaires were distributed to frontline employ- ees via the hotels’ human resource managers. To ensure valid response, the researchers briefs the hotel managers on the content of the questionnaires beforehand. Then, the frontline employees filled in the self-administered ques- tionnaire immediately under the manager’s supervision. The length of the data collection was approximately three months starting from March until June 2019. According to the above explanation, this study investi- gated the empirical model as follows: 189 Organizacija, Volume 53 Issue 3, August 2020Research Papers This study utilized a convenience sampling method. This design was employed because not all tourist hotels provided access to the survey. Moreover, frontline em- ployees are working in different shifts and different days that hinder the possibility of involving every employee in the study. Convenient sampling is among the least chosen method due to its deficiency in support studies that seek to generalize the findings. To resolve the deficiency, Landers & Behrend (2015) proposed that the feature of the sample and the setting of the study should be provided. In view of this, we have provided the demographic data of the re- spondents described as Table 1. 3.2 Measurement and Analyses Approach This present study employed self-reported questionnaire to measure each variable. All of the survey items were translated from English into Indonesian language using a method of forwarding and backward translation (Brislin, 1970). The measurement of innovative service behavior (six items) was a contextualized version of Luoh, Tsaur, & Tang (2014). Workplace friendship was measured using a workplace prevalence instrument (six items) developed by Nielsen, Jex & Adam (2000). Knowledge sharing pro- cess measurement in this research was used two-dimen- sional developed by Van Den Hooff and De Ridder (2004); knowledge donating (three items), and knowledge Collect- ing (four items) (see table 2). All items were rated from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). This research used Smart PLS to analyze of the hypotheses and testing of the proposed model. Smart PLS was employed because of it provide support for research with relatively small sam- ples. Moreover, Smart PLS is appropriate to build causal modeling for future testing purposes (Hair et al. 2017). 4 Results 4.1 Demographic Characteristics The questionnaires were distributed and collected from 225 employees, and 163 were completed and adequately filled. Thus, the usable response for this study was 72,4%. The demographic data of the respondents are presented in Table 1. As indicated in Table 1, out of 163 respondents, 97 re- spondents equivalent to 58.90% were males. The major- ity of the respondents (59.1%) were secondary and high school graduates while 15.34% were vocational school holders and 25.15% were possessed bachelor’s degree. Most of the respondents (38.65%) worked as room service employees and 38.13% were at the food and beverage de- partment. According to job tenure, most of the respondents (30.06%) had work experience between 12-15 years. Figure 1: Research Model 190 Organizacija, Volume 53 Issue 3, August 2020Research Papers 4.2 Measurement Model Evaluation All minimum requirements are fit with the measurement model, as illustrated in Table 2. First, this study used a cut- off value of 0.70 significance for the loading factor of all items above 0.70. Higher levels of outside loading factors indicate a higher level of indicator reliability (Hair et al. 2017). Second, all extracted mean values (AVE) exceed the 0.50 threshold, supporting the convergent validity of the construct steps. Composite reliability (CR) precisely explains the convergence and internal consistency of the developed measures. CR estimates the degree to which the respective indicators signal the latent construct. The CR estimates of the latent variables of the present study Table 1: Characteristics of respondents (n=163) Demographic Characteristic Frequency Percentage Gender Male 96 58.90% Female 67 41.10% Total 163 Education Secondary and High School 97 59.51% Vocational school 25 15.34% University 41 25.15% Total 163 Hotel Department Food and Beverage 56 34.36% Room service 63 38.65% Frontdesk 44 26.99% Total 163 Job Tenure (year) Under 3 3 1.84% 3-5 24 14.72% 6-9 32 19.63% 9-12 40 24.54% 12-15 49 30.06% above 15 15 9.20% Total 163 ranged from 0.859 to 0.925 (Table 2), which exceeded the cut-off value of 0.7.Third step, to asses discriminant valid- ity, we examined by comparing of the square root of the AVE to each variable relation (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). The result showed that discriminant validity is established between two constructs association among indicators and greater than that between a construct and any other con- struct (Hair et al. 2012). Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for the multiple-item workplace friendship, knowledge do- nating, knowledge collecting, and innovative service be- havior were 0.807, 0.892, 0.793, and 0.876, respectively, indicating an acceptable level of reliability. 191 Organizacija, Volume 53 Issue 3, August 2020Research Papers Table 2: Convergent, Divergent validity, and Reliability Note: CR, composite reliability; AVE, average variance extracted; CA, cCronbach’s alpha; Values above the diagonal in bold are squared inter-construct correlations for Fornell–Larcker criterion. Instrument CA CR AVE Instrument 1 2 3 4 Workplace friendship (1) 0.807 0.859 0.695 0,834 Knowledge donating (2) 0.892 0.925 0.755 0.603 0,869 Knowledge collecting (3) 0,793 0.864 0.701 0.764 0.486 0,837 Innovative service behavior (4) 0,876 0.890 0.715 0.558 0.108 0.442 0,846 Table 3: Measurement Model Evaluation Result Factor Measurement Item Mean Standard Devi-ation Factor Load- ing Workplace Friendship WF.1 I have formed strong friendships at work. 3.84 0.52 0.715 WF.2 I socialize with coworkers outside of the workplace. 3.80 0.66 0.738 WF.3 I can confide in people at work. 3.85 0.58 0.769 WF.4 I feel I can trust many coworkers a great deal. 3.35 0.87 0.771 WF.5 Being able to see my coworkers is one reason why I look forward to my job. 3.45 1.16 0.724 WF.6 I do not feel that anyone I work with is a true friend. (R) 3.45 1.01 0.735 Knowledge Donating KD.1 When I’ve learned something new, I tell my colleagues about it. 3.47 0.71 0.879 KD.2 I share information I have with my colleagues. 3.55 0.84 0.860 KD.3 I think it is important that my colleagues know what I am doing. 3.32 0.99 0.876 KD.4 I regularly tell my colleagues what I am doing. 3.25 0.98 0.861 Knowledge Collecting KC.1 When I need certain knowledge, I ask my colleagues about it 3.97 0.54 0,821 KC.2 I like to be informed of what my col- leagues know 3.65 0.65 0,727 KC.3 I ask my colleague about their abilities when I need to learn something 3.58 0.60 0,775 KC.4 When a colleague is good at something, I ask them to teach me how to do it 3.44 0.77 0,812 192 Organizacija, Volume 53 Issue 3, August 2020Research Papers Note: WFS, workplace friendship; KD, knowledge donating; KC, knowledge collecting; ISB, innovative service behavior. Figure 2: Measurement model Factor Measurement Item Mean Standard Devi-ation Factor Load- ing Innovative Ser- vice Behavior ISB.1 I come up with innovative and creative notions 3.74 0.65 0,705 ISB.2 I try to propose my own creative ideas and convince others 3.45 0.70 0,826 ISB.3 I seek new service techniques, methods, or techniques 3.48 0.58 0,755 ISB.4 I provide a suitable plan for developing new ideas 3.65 0.75 0.892 ISB.5 I try to secure the funding and resources needed to implement innovations 3.28 0.86 0.813 ISB.6 Overall, I consider my self a creative member 3.49 0.74 0.863 Table 3: Measurement Model Evaluation Result (continues) 193 Organizacija, Volume 53 Issue 3, August 2020Research Papers 5 Discussion and Implications The research findings have confirmed the critical role of friendship relations in shaping service innovation. In this study, workplace friendship found to be the key facilita- tor in promoting FLEs innovative service behavior. These findings imply that a friendly work environment has an essential role in creating innovation opportunities and de- velop new services. Workplace friendship was also found a significant influence on both knowledge collecting and knowledge donating. Social capital theory supports our findings that when frontline employees build up friend- ly relations with others, their willingness to share and collect an idea, information, or method will be stronger. Further, workplace friendship is provide trust and emo- tional support. Interpersonal trust encourage more effec- tive communication, open discussion and understanding work- related problems. Therefore, workplace friendship motivates frontline employees to work collectively in the problem-solving process. When frontline employees see each other as real friends, they will voluntarily share ideas to find a solution to the problems. Our study also empirically indicated that knowledge collecting has a mediating effect on the relationship be- tween workplace friendship and FLEs’ innovative service behavior. Friendship at work provides opportunities for frontline employees to learn and gather valuable infor- mation from coworkers; for example, various customer characteristics and customer complaints on hotel services, which is vital for service encounter innovation. Despite the significant effect of knowledge collecting, this study concluded that knowledge donating was not related to FLEs innovative service behavior. This study is partially in line with previous studies that empirically found knowl- edge collecting as a better contributor in facilitating the employee innovative work behavior (Akram et al. 2018; Hussein et al. 2016; Kamasak & Bulutlar, 2009). However, regarding this inconsistent findings, we should not rule out Variable Original Samples STDEV t-Statistics ρ -Values Hypothesis WFS → ISB 0.218 0.105 2.074 0.039* H1: Supported WFS → KD 0.706 0.043 16.379 0.000** H2: Supported WFS → KC 0.753 0.045 16.741 0.000** H3: Supported KD → ISB 0.154 0.079 1.941 0.053 H4: Unsupported KC → ISB 0.527 0.098 5.387 0.000** H5: Supported Specific Indirect Effect WFS → KD → ISB 0.147 0.081 1.826 0.068 H6: Unsupported WFS → KC → ISB 0.397 0.077 5.164 0.000* H7: Supported Table 4: Structural Equation Model Assessment Note: *ρ < .05; ** ρ <.001; STDEV, standard deviation; WFS, workplace friendship; KD, knowledge donating; KC, knowledge collecting; ISB, innovative service behavior. 4.3 Findings For this study, structural equation modelling using a Par- tial Least Squares (PLS) was used to test the hypotheses. Smart PLS 3 Version 2.0 software was used to perform the analysis. Table 4 summarizes the results of the best-fit model and explains the direct and indirect relationship between exogenous variables and endogenous variables. In hy- potheses H1, H2, and H3, authors examined the effects of workplace friendship on knowledge donating, knowledge collecting, and innovative service behavior. The results found that workplace friendship had significant effect on ISB (t=2.074; ρ=.039), knowledge donating (t=16.379; ρ<.001) and knowledge collecting (t= 16.741; ρ<.001). Therefore, H1, H2, and H3 were supported. Furthermore, knowledge collecting was found to positively influence innovative service behavior (t=5.387; ρ<.001) and provid- ing support for H5. However, the result also revealed that knowledge donating has no significant relationship with innovative service behavior (t=1.941; ρ=.053). Thus, H4 was unsupported. Next, according to specific indirect ef- fect test (Hair et al. 2017), this result showed that knowl- edge collecting partially mediate the relationship between workplace friendship and innovative service behavior (t=1.826; ρ=.068), providing support for H7. On the other hand, the mediating effect of knowledge donating was not significant (t=1.826; ρ =.068). Consequently, H6 was not supported. 194 Organizacija, Volume 53 Issue 3, August 2020Research Papers the possible impact of inadequate sample size that invari- ably introduces errors into the final findings (Schoemann, Boulton & Short, 2017) This study provides several implications for both hos- pitality management and theoretical development. First, hotel managers should consider workplace friendship as a rewarding tool for increasing FLEs› innovative ser- vice behavior. Hence, as a way of improving workplace friendship, the manager ought to provide an opportunity for employees to socialize with others in a more pleasant environment, for example, comfortable face to face meet- ings and informal briefing before starting up their work. Furthermore, hotel managers should consider social activ- ities that improve collective intelligence by strengthen the interpersonal trust and emotional connection among cow- orkers. Second, it implies that FLEs experiencing good quality workplace friendship are more likely to involve in the knowledge collecting and, in turn, trigger higher in- novative service work behavior. Thus, managers should consider the mechanism to accelerate the implementation of knowledge sharing collecting process. For instance, managers ought to develop a flexible and build openness knowledge-sharing climate that enable FLEs to collect in- formations or experinces and also they can learn service delivery from others. This strategy can enlarge employees’ knowledge repository which is critial for idea generating on innovation service process. The third implication, this study theoretically contrib- utes to the social capital literature by enriching the model that predicts innovative service behavior. This research is among the first that attempt to integrate the association among workplace friendship, knowledge sharing process, and innovative service behavior in hospitality service lit- erature. This study also advances previous research by ex- amining two distinctive dimensions of knowledge sharing (knowledge donating and knowledge donating) related to innovative service behavior. However, we have over- looked to capture possible interaction between knowledge donating and knowledge collecting. Therefore, these find- ings open the doors for further research to investigate the nature of knowledge sharing process related to innovative service behavior. 5.1 Conclusion, Limitation and Future Research This study concludes the importance of workplace friend- ship to encourage FLEs’ innovative service behavior. Workplace friendship promotes a friendly work environ- ment that becomes a trigger for collective intelligence in knowledge sharing behavior. Workplace friendship also provides favorable interaction among FLEs that positively nurturing innovative service behavior trough the knowl- edge collecting process. However, this research has sev- eral limitations and suggestions for future research. First, the sample size was relatively small. A larger sample is suggested to provide a more accurate, precise, and com- prehensive result. Second, the limitation of this study is related to the use of a convenience sampling method. We suggested a probability sampling method in order to lev- erage the generalization of findings. Third, it would be in- teresting to replicate this study in a longitudinal method to understand the cause and effect relationship. In addition, a longitudinal study helps scholars discovering factors to sustain workplace friendship, knowledge sharing, and in- novative service behavior relationships. Fourth, this study only focuses on the mediating effect of knowledge donat- ing and knowledge collecting on innovative service behav- ior. However, we suggest the extensive research to investi- gate the possible interaction between knowledge donating and knowledge collecting. Fifth, this study only concen- trated on frontline employees within the hotel service sec- tor. Future research could extend the investigation to dif- ferent industries to obtain a broader generalization of the study. Moreover, this research was conducted in Indonesia, a developing country with specific cultural features, future research should reinvestigate this current model in various settings (e.g., European or western countries) to reveal any differences or similarities from the present study. Literature Al-Hawari, M., Bani-Melhem, S. and Shamsudin, F. (2019). Determinants of frontline employee service in- novative behavior: The moderating role of co-worker socializing and service climate, Management Resear- ch Review, 42(9), 1076-1094. https://doi.org/10.1108/ MRR-07-2018-0266 Akhavan, P., & Mahdi Hosseini, S. (2016). Social capital, knowledge sharing, and innovation capability: an em- pirical study of R&D teams in Iran. Technology Anal- ysis & Strategic Management, 28(1), 96-113. https:// doi.org/10.1080/09537325.2015.1072622 Akram, T., Lei, S., Haider, M. J., & Hussain, S. T. (2018). Exploring the impact of knowledge sharing on the in- novative work behavior of employees: A study in Chi- na. International Business Research, 11(3), 186-194. https://doi.org/10.5539/ibr.v11n3p186 Ardichvili, A., Page, V., & Wentling, T. (2003). Motiva- tion and barriers to participation in virtual knowled- ge-sharing communities of practice. Journal of Knowledge Management, 7(1), 64-77. https://doi. org/10.1108/13673270310463626 Benjamin, B. (2016). Listen to Your Employees, Not Just Your Customers. Available at https://hbr.org/2016/08/ listen-to-your-employees-not-just-your-customers Berman, E. M., West, J. P., & Richter, Jr, M. N. (2002). Wor- kplace relations: Friendship patterns and consequences (according to managers). Public Administration Re- 195 Organizacija, Volume 53 Issue 3, August 2020Research Papers view, 62(2), 217-230. https://doi.org/10.1111/0033- 3352.00172 Boyd, N. G., & Taylor, R. R. (1998). A developmental approach to the examination of friendship in leader-fol- lower relationships. The Leadership Quarterly, 9(1), 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1048-9843(98)90040-6 Brachos, D., Kostopoulos, K., Soderquist, K. E., & Prastacos, G. (2007). Knowledge effectiveness, so- cial context and innovation. Journal of Knowled- ge Management, 11, (5), 31–44. https://doi. org/10.1108/13673270710819780 Brislin, R. W. (1970). Back-translation for cross-cultural re- search. Journal of cross-cultural psychology, 1(3), 185 - 216. https://doi.org/10.1177/135910457000100301 Cao, F. and Zhang, H. (2020), Workplace friendship, psy- chological safety and innovative behavior in China: A moderated-mediation model, Chinese Management Studies, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https:// doi.org/10.1108/CMS-09-2019-0334 Chang, H. T., Chou, Y. J., Liou, J. W., & Tu, Y. T. (2016). The effects of perfectionism on innovative behavior and job burnout: Team workplace friendship as a mo- derator. Personality and Individual Differences, 96, 260-265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.02.088 De Jong, J., & Den Hartog, D. (2010). Measuring innova- tive work behavior. Creativity and Innovation Mana- gement, 19 (1), 23-36. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467- 8691.2010.00547.x Engen, M., & Magnusson, P. (2015). Exploring the role of front-line employees as innovators. The Service In- dustries Journal, 35(6), 303-324. https://doi.org/10.10 80/02642069.2015.1003370 Hair, J., Hollingsworth, C., Randolph, A. and Chong, A. (2017). An updated and expanded assessment of PLS-SEM in information systems research. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 117(3), 442-458. htt- ps://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-04-2016-0130 Hau, Y. S., Kim, B., Lee, H., & Kim, Y. G. (2013). The effects of individual motivations and social capital on employees’ tacit and explicit knowledge sharing intentions. International Journal of Information Ma- nagement, 33(2), 356-366. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. ijinfomgt.2012.10.009 Helmy, I., Adawiyah, W. R., & Banani, A. (2019). Linking Psychological Empowerment, Knowledge Sharing, and Employees’ Innovative Behavior in SMEs. The Journal of Behavioral Science, 14(2), 66-79. Retrieved from https://so06.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/IJBS/article/ view/172180 Hussein, A., Singh, S., Farouk, S. and Sohal, A. (2016). Knowledge sharing enablers, processes and firm in- novation capability, Journal of Workplace Learning, 28(8), 484-495. https://doi.org/10.1108/JWL-05-2016- 0041 Intezari, A., Taskin, N., & Pauleen, D. J. (2017). Looking beyond knowledge sharing: An integrative approach to knowledge management culture. J. Knowledge Mana- gement, 21(2), 492-515. https://doi.org/10.1108/JKM- 06-2016-0216 Janet, W.C.N. and Alton, C.Y.K. (2013), The peculiari- ties of knowledge management processes in SMEs: the case of Singapore, Journal of Knowledge Mana- gement, 17(6), 958-972. https://doi.org/10.1108/JKM- 04-2013-0163 Kamaşak, R. & Bulutlar, F. (2010), The influence of knowledge sharing on innovation, Europe- an Business Review, 22(3), 306-317. https://doi. org/10.1108/09555341011040994 Kim, T. T., & Lee, G. (2013). Hospitality employee knowledge-sharing behaviors in the relationship between goal orientations and service innovative behavior. International Journal of Hospitality Ma- nagement, 34, 324-337. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. ijhm.2013.04.009 Kratzer, J., Leenders, R. T. A., & Van Engelen, J. M. (2006). Team polarity and creative performance in innovation teams. Creativity and innovation mana- gement, 15(1),96-104. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467- 8691.2006.00372.x Liu, H., Shi, J., Liu, Y., & Sheng, Z. (2013). The modera- ting role of attachment anxiety on social network site use intensity and social capital. Psychological Reports, 112 (1), 252-265. https://doi.org/10.2466/21.02.17. PR0.112.1.252-265 Liyanage, C., Elhag, T., Ballal, T. and Li, Q. (2009), Knowledge communication and translation – a knowledge transfer model, Journal of Knowled- ge Management, 13(3), 118-131. https://doi. org/10.1108/13673270910962914 Lu, Jackson & Hafenbrack, Andrew & Eastwick, Paul & Wang, Dan & Maddux, William & Galinsky, Adam. (2017). “Going Out” of the box: Close intercultural friendships and romantic relationships spark creativity, workplace innovation, and entrepreneurship. Journal of Applied Psychology. 102(7), 1091–1108 https://doi. org/10.1037/apl0000212 Luoh, H., Tsaur, S. and Tang, Y. (2014), Empowering employees: job standardization and innovative be- havior, International Journal of Contemporary Hos- pitality Management, 26(7), 1100-1117. https://doi. org/10.1108/IJCHM-03-2013-0153 Melton, H. L., & Hartline, M. D. (2010). Customer and frontline employee influence on new service develop- ment performance. Journal of Service Research, 13(4), 411-425. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670510369378 Michael, L.A.H., Hou, S.‐T. & Fan, H.‐L. (2011), Crea- tive Self‐Efficacy and Innovative Behavior in a Ser- vice Setting: Optimism as a Moderator. The Jour- nal of Creative Behavior, 45, 258-272. https://doi. org/10.1002/j.2162-6057.2011.tb01430.x Montani, F., Odoardi, C., & Battistelli, A. (2014). Indivi- dual and contextual determinants of innovative work behavior: Proactive goal generation matters. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 87(4), 196 Organizacija, Volume 53 Issue 3, August 2020Research Papers 645-670. https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.12066 Morrison, R. L. (2004). Informal relationships in the workplace : associations with job satisfaction, orga- nisational commitment and turnover intentions. New Zealand Journal of Psychology, 33(3), https://doi. org/10179/1666 Morrison, R. L., & Cooper-Thomas, H. D. (2016). Friend- ship among coworkers. The Psychology of Friendship, 123-140. New York: Oxford University Press. Nahapiet, J., & Ghoshal, S. (1998). Social capital, intellec- tual capital, and the organizational advantage. Acade- my of management review, 23(2), 242-266. https://doi. org/10.5465/amr.1998.533225 Nielsen, I. K., Jex, S. M., & Adams, G. A. (2000). Deve- lopment and validation of scores on a two-dimensio- nal workplace friendship scale. Educational and Psy- chological Measurement, 60(4), 628-643. https://doi. org/10.1177/00131640021970655 Oldenkamp, J. H. (2001). Succesvol overdragen van ken- nis (Successful knowledge transfer), Utrecht, Nether- lands: Lemma. Ordanini, A., & Parasuraman, A. (2011). Service innova- tion viewed through a service-dominant logic lens: a conceptual framework and empirical analysis. Jour- nal of Service Research, 14(1), 3-23. https://doi. org/10.1177/1094670510385332 Ozkok, O., Bell, S. J., Singh, J., & Lim, K. (2019). Front- line knowledge networks in open collaboration models for service innovations. AMS Review, 9 (3), 268-288. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13162-018-00133-5 Paulin, D., & Suneson, K. (2015). Knowledge transfer, knowledge sharing and knowledge barriers–three blur- ry terms in KM. Leading Issues in Knowledge Mana- gement, 2 (2), 73-94. Unique Identifier: 2012-18129- 007 Pillemer, J., & Rothbard, N. P. (2018). Friends without benefits: Understanding the dark sides of workplace friendship. Academy of Management Review, 43 (4), 635-660. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2016.0309 Riordan, C. M., & Griffeth, R. W. (1995). The opportuni- ty for friendship in the workplace: An underexplored construct. Journal of Business and psychology, 10 (2), 141-154. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02249575 Santos-Vijande, M. L., López-Sánchez, J. Á., & Rudd, J. (2016). Frontline employees’ collaboration in in- dustrial service innovation: routes of co-creation’s effects on new service performance. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 44(3), 350-375. htt- ps://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-015-0447-4 Schoemann, A. M., Boulton, A. J., & Short, S. D. (2017). Determining power and sample size for simple and complex mediation models. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 8(4), 379-386. https://doi. org/10.1177/1948550617715068 Scott, S. G., & Bruce, R. A. (1994). Determinants of inno- vative behavior: A path model of individual innovation in the workplace. Academy of Management Journal, 37 (3), 580-607. https://doi.org/10.5465/256701 Sias, P. M., & Cahill, D. J. (1998). From coworkers to friends: The development of peer friendships in the workplace. Western Journal of Communication (inclu- des Communication Reports, 62(3), 273-299. https:// doi.org/10.1080/10570319809374611 Sias, P. M., Heath, R. G., Perry, T., Silva, D., & Fix, B. (2004). Narratives of workplace friendship deterioration. Jour- nal of Social and Personal Relationships, 21(3), 321- 340. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407504042835 Song, S. H., & Olshfski, D. (2008). Friends at work: A comparative study of work attitudes in Seoul city government and New Jersey state government. Ad- ministration & Society, 40(2), 147-169. https://doi. org/10.1177/0095399707312827 Tangaraja, G., Mohd Rasdi, R., Abu Samah, B., & Ismail, M. (2016). Knowledge sharing is knowledge transfer: a misconception in the literature. Journal of Knowledge Management, 20(4), 653-670. https://doi.org/10.1108/ JKM-11-2015-0427 Van den Hooff, B. and de Ridder, J. (2004), «Knowled- ge sharing in context: the influence of organiza- tional commitment, communication climate and CMC use on knowledge sharing“, Journal of Knowledge Management, 8 (6), 117-130. https://doi. org/10.1108/13673270410567675 Wah, C. Y., Menkhoff, T., Loh, B., & Evers, H. D. (2007). Social capital and knowledge sharing in knowled- ge-based organizations: An empirical study. Interna- tional Journal of Knowledge Management (IJKM), 3(1), 29-48. https://doi.org/10.4018/jkm.2007010103 Weerakoon, C., McMurray, A. J., Rametse, N. M., & Are- nius, P. M. (2019). Social capital and innovativeness of social enterprises: opportunity-motivation-ability and knowledge creation as mediators. Knowledge Manage- ment Research & Practice, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.108 0/14778238.2019.1590138 Wang, W. T., & Hou, Y. P. (2015). Motivations of employe- es’ knowledge sharing behaviors: A self-determination perspective. Information and Organization, 25 (1), 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2014.11.001 Wu, W. L., Lin, C. H., Hsu, B. F., & Yeh, R. S. (2009). Interpersonal trust and knowledge sharing: Modera- ting effects of individual altruism and a social inte- raction environment. Social Behavior and Personali- ty: an international journal, 37(1), 83-93. https://doi. org/10.2224/sbp.2009.37.1.83 Wynen, J., Boon, J., Kleizen, B., & Verhoest, K. (2019). How multiple organizational changes shape manage- rial support for innovative work behavior: Evidence from the Australian Public Service. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 10(2), 491-515. https://doi. org/10.1177/0734371X18824388 Yeşil, S., & Hırlak, B. (2013). An empirical investiga- tion into the influence of knowledge sharing barriers on knowledge sharing and individual innovation be- havior. International Journal of Knowledge Mana- 197 Organizacija, Volume 53 Issue 3, August 2020Research Papers gement (IJKM), 9(2), 38-61. https://doi.org/10.4018/ jkm.2013040103 Yidong, T., & Xinxin, L. (2013). How ethical leadership influence employees’ innovative work behavior: A perspective of intrinsic motivation. Journal of busine- ss ethics, 116(2), 441-455. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/ s10551-012-1509-x Zarankin, T. G., & Kunkel, D. (2019). Colleagues and Friends: A Theoretical Framework of Workplace Friendship. Journal of Organizational Psycholo- gy, 19(5). https://doi.org/10.33423/jop.v19i5.2517 Zheng, T. (2017). A literature review on knowledge sha- ring. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 5(3), 51-58. https://doi.org/10.4236/jss.2017.53006 Irfan Helmy is an assistant professor at the Departement of Management, Putra Bangsa Economics College, in Indonesia. He obtained a Doctoral Scholarship Program from The Indonesian Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education (Ristekdikti). Currently, he is completing the dissertation about innovation in Indonesian small and medium enterprises. His research interest mainly focuses on organizational behavior, human resource management, and small- medium enterprises. Wiwiek Rabiatul Adawiyah is a professor at the Department of Management, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Jenderal Soedirman, Indonesia. Her research interest is focused on human resource management, entrepreneurship, quality management, and Islamic banking. She is currently appointed as a reviewer in some nationally accredited journals and some reputable international journals. She also actively written scientific articles, textbooks, and conducts international conferences as a keynote speaker. Harini Abrilia Setyawati is an assistant professor at the Departement of Management, Putra Bangsa Economics College. Currently. She holds a Ph.D. candidate from Jenderal Soedirman University. Her research is focused on the areas of strategic management, marketing and consumer behavior. By collaborating with other researchers, she has published research papers in domestic and international journals. Spodbujanje inovativnega vedenja uslužbencev, ki delajo neposredno s strankami: vloga prijateljstva in izmenjave znanja na delovnem mestu Ozadje in namen: Gostinstvo zahteva takšno delovno okolje in socialne dejavnosti, da spodbujajo inovativ- no vedenje zaposlenih, ki delajo neposredno s strankami (Front Line Employees - FLE). Namen te študije je na osnovi teorije socialnega kapitala preučiti vpliv prijateljstva na delovnem mestu na spodbujanje inovativne- ga vedenja zaposlenih FLE. Študija preučuje tudi posredovalno vlogo procesa izmenjave znanja (zbiranje in dajanje znanja) na povezavi med prijateljstvom na delovnem mestu in inovativnim vedenjem zaposlenih (FLE). Metodologija: Za zbiranje podatkov smo uporabili metodo vzorčenja in anketirali 163 zaposlenih v ho- telih s tremi in štirimi zvezdicami v mestu Yogyakarta v Indoneziji. Za statistično obdelavo zbranih po- datkov smo uporabili programsko opremo za modeliranje strukturnih enačb (PLS-SEM) Smart-PLS v3.0. Rezultati: Prijateljstvo na delovnem mestu pomembno vpliva na inovativno vedenje zaposlenih, ki delajo ne- posredno s strankami (FLE). Poleg tega je raziskava empirično ugotovila, da prijateljstvo na delovnem mes- tu neposredno in posredno, preko zbiranja znanja, vpliva na inovativno vedenje zaposlenih. Zanimivo je, da da- rovanje znanja nepomembno vpliva na inovativno vedenje zaposlenih, ki delajo neposredno s strankami (FLE). Zaključek: Sklepamo, da bi prijateljstvo na delovnem mestu lahko ustvarilo ugodno delovno okolje, ki bi spodbudilo inovativno vedenje zaposlenih prek postopka izmenjave znanja. S tem raziskava prispeva k poznavanju vpliva prija- teljstva na delovnem mestu in izmenjave znanja na inovativno vedenje zaposlenih. Študija predlaga tudi kadrovsko prakso glede negovanja prijateljstva na delovnem mestu, ki spodbuja inovativno delovno vedenje zaposlenih. Ključne besede: Inovativno vedenje storitev FLE, Prijateljstvo na delovnem mestu, Zbiranje znanja, Dajanje znanja.