Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to enable management decisions to develop innovation within an organisation by examining the relationship between job embeddedness (JE) and innovative work behaviour (IWB) while also considering the moderating effect of life satisfaction upon this relationship.

Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 213 employees of small- and medium-sized organisations in Thailand. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to assess the reliability of the measures and validity of the constructs. Multiple regression and PROCESS Macro techniques were used to test the direct and moderation effects.

Findings: The two components of JE, organisational and community embeddedness, were found to positively predict IWB. Additionally, life satisfaction was found to moderate the relationship between organisational embeddedness and IWB, but not the relationship between community embeddedness and IWB. At low levels of life satisfaction, the JE and IWB relationship was non-existent.

Practical implications: Organisations can potentially foster employee innovation by adopting strategies that seek to strengthen employee embeddedness in the organisation and in their community.

Originality/value: Studies on the effect of JE on IWB, particularly in small and medium enterprises and the influence of life satisfaction is sparse. This study redresses this imbalance in the knowledge base.