A meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the relationship between paternalistic leadership and employee innovation behavior. Through literature retrieval, 53 cases and 112 independent effect sizes together with 15,355 participants which met the inclusion criteria of meta-analysis were selected. The results showed that paternalistic leadership was significantly positively correlated with employee innovation behavior, moral leadership and benevolent leadership were significantly positively correlated with employee innovation behavior, while authoritarian leadership was significantly negatively correlated with employee innovation behavior. Besides, innovation behavior measurement scales, the country of the subjects, and the language of the publications significantly moderated the relationship between paternalistic leadership and employee innovation behavior. The meta-analytical structural equation showed that paternalistic leadership could influence employee innovation behavior through the simple mediating effects of psychological empowerment, LMX, and through the chain-mediating role of LMX and psychological empowerment.