Unlocking Technological Innovation. The Mediating Role of Employee Engagement in Organizational Innovation

In an economic landscape of rapid change and increasing digitiza-tion, understanding the mechanisms that facilitate the adoption of technological innovation is a strategic priority for organizations. This study investigates the relationship between organizational innovation (OI) and technological innovation (TI), specifically examining the mediating role of employee engagement (EE). Through a quantitative survey administered in November and December 2024 to a sample of 265 employees of private Italian companies, a structural equation model relating OI, EE, and TI was tested. The results confirm that organizational innovation directly promotes technology adoption and that this effect is amplified by active employee engagement. Engagement, understood as emotional, cogni-tive, and behavioral investment in one’s work, thus emerges as a crucial lever to transform structural change into real and practical innovation. The study makes an original theoretical contribution by integrating dimensions usually treated sep-arately in literature and proposes an empirical model that enhances the role of participatory dynamics in technological transformation processes.