Development of a Causal Framework Linking Leadership to Employee Creativity (original) (raw)
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IIM Lucknow Working Paper Series 2010-11/18
Employee Creativity is a topic of great importance for present day management. ‘Local leaders’ (i.e. employee supervisors) are one of the most immediate and potent influencers of employee creativity. Few studies have, however, focused on understanding how these ‘local leaders’ influence employee creativity. While the research exploring the relationship between leadership styles and creativity is scant, there exists even less research analyzing the impact of specific leader behaviors on employee creativity. Moreover, there exists a dearth of studies analyzing the influence of leaders on employee perceptual and psychological processes and eventually their creative performance. Taking leave from the popular two-factor classifications of leadership like transformational-transactional and consideration-initiating structure, the first part of the study identifies important supervisory behaviors that impact employee creativity. The second part presents work motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic motivations), positive psychological capital (self-efficacy, hope, optimism and resilience) and justice perceptions (distributive, procedural and interactional justice perceptions) as important mediating variables for the leadership-creativity relationship. The paper identifies patterns of behaviors that can influence each of the proposed mediating variables. The paper is conceptual in nature and provides seeds for future research.
An examination of leadership and employee creativity: The relevance of traits and relationships
Personnel Psychology
Creativity is becoming a topic of ever-increasing interest to organizational managers. Thus, there is a need for a greater understanding of the dynamics between the personal and contextual factors responsible for creative performance in work settings. In particular, there is a need to identify the role of leadership for creativity. Until now, creativity studies have examined leadership and employee characteristics from a single-domain perspective. Data from 191 R&D employees of a large chemical company were used to test a multidomain, interactionist creativity model of employee characteristics, leader characteristics, and Leader-Member Exchange (LMX). Results suggest that employee intrinsic motivation and cognitive style, LMX, the interactions between employee intrinsic motivation and leader intrinsic motivation, and between LMX and employee cognitive style relate to employee creative performance as measured by supervisor ratings, invention disclosure forms, or research reports. Implications for practicing managers and research on leadership and creativity are discussed. The authors thank Talya Bauer and three anonymous reviewers for their helpful com-Correspondence and requests for reprints should be addressed to Pamela Tierney, ments regarding this manuscript.
Objective-The objectives of this conceptual paper are two folds: to propose and argue a) the direct relationship between leader creativity expectations and creative performance; and b) the mediating role of intrinsic motivation between leader creativity expectations and creative performance. Design-Drawing upon Pygmalion effect, Herzberg's two-factor theory of motivation, and componential theory of creativity, two propositions are suggested. Findings-It is proposed that there will be a positive relationship between leader creativity expectations and creative performance. In addition, the authors also make the case that intrinsic motivation will mediate the relationship between leader creativity expectations and creative performance. Originality-The significant original contribution of this article is that it suggests a theoretical relationship of Pygmalion effect with Herzberg's two-factor theory of motivation and componential theory of creativity to propose a new conceptual framework. In addition, this paper extends our knowledge regarding the pertinent role of leader creativity expectations in stimulating divergent thinking process of people in the workplace. Policy Implications-This article attempts to provide a clear guideline to both practitioners and academicians to better explore the relationship between expectations and employee creativity. The proposed framework may be applied in various social contexts such as healthcare, education, creative advertising, research and development, hospitality and new business incubation.
Academy of Management Journal, 2010
Synthesizing theories of leadership, empowerment, and creativity, this research built and tested a theoretical model linking empowering leadership with creativity via several intervening variables. Using survey data from professional employees and their supervisors in a large information technology company in China, we found that, as anticipated, empowering leadership positively affected psychological empowerment, which in turn influenced both intrinsic motivation and creative process engagement. These latter two variables then had a positive influence on creativity. Empowerment role identity moderated the link between empowering leadership and psychological empowerment, whereas leader encouragement of creativity moderated the connection between psychological empowerment and creative process engagement.
International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology, 2020
The aim of this research examines the moderating role of empowering leadership in the relationship between intrinsic motivation and creativity of laborers at Firms in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.The reliability and validity of the scale were tested by Cronbach's Alpha, rho_A, Average Variance Extracted (Pvc), and Composite Reliability (Pc). The analysis results of the model showed that some factors in this model influence the creativity of laborers about 75.8%.This paper limited to a small sample size due to time constraints, the future study should have a large sample size for the generalization of the study.
Leadership and Creativity: is there a Common Psychological Background for Both?
Social Sciences, 2013
The aim of the study is to discuss the relationship between leadership and creativity at a personal level, and to trace non-cognitive psychological factors which possibly determine creativity at work. The methods of scientific literature analysis and empirical qualitative research have been employed for the investigation. The richest 7 journals (diaries) of creative activity have been selected for empirical research from the total of 52 samples.
Australian Journal of Basic …, 2011
This article reports on the literature associated with the role of transformational leadership on followers' creativity. Reviewing the literature indicated that transformational leadership behaviors closely match the determinants of innovation and creativity at the workplace, some of which are vision, support for innovation, autonomy, encouragement, recognition, and challenge. In fact, transformational leaders can encourage creativity through intrinsic motivation, empowerment of followers, and climate supportive of innovation at work environment. It is suggested that leaders should develop their style of leadership and learn the transformational leadership components of charisma (idealized influence), inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration in order to enhance the creative performance of their employees.
Creativity and Leadership in Organizations: A Literature Review
Despite the importance to researchers and organizations of how creativity contributes to effective leadership and how leadership contributes to group and organizational creativity, our knowledge regarding this interrelationship remains largely limited. A review of the literature based on both theoretical grounds and empirical evidence reveals that studies examining the intersection between creativity and leadership in organizations are divergent in terms of how they conceptualize this relationship. A multi-level framework is used to synthesize the knowledge in both creativity and leadership disciplines , with multiple themes having been found at each level of the framework.
Universal Journal of Management, 2023
This study aimed to assess the association between exchange and situational variables and schoolteachers' creativity. Hypotheses are based on the fairness heuristic theory and the exchange theory. The explanatory model included perceived justice, organizational culture, psychological well-being, psychological contract breach, transactional and relational obligations, and demographic control variables. The dependent variable was self-report and principal report creativity. Two different samples of Israeli teachers were surveyed, the second one a year after the first. The first survey (N = 191) asked teachers and their principals about their perceptions regarding creativity. In the second sample (N=146), perceptions were reported only by the teachers. The findings showed that teachers' perceived well-being has a solid relationship with the principal report of creativity in the first sample and self-report creativity in both samples. In addition, the first sample found a robust positive association between procedural justice and creativity (principal report and self-report). The findings also showed a positive association between employee relational obligations and self-report creativity in both samples. Interestingly, no noteworthy differences were found in the correlates of self-reported creativity and principal-reported creativity. The findings suggest that employees' positive mood should be a fundamental goal for employers who expect high levels of creativity from their teachers. In addition, employers should provide employees with a supportive and just work environment that encourages creativity.