Antecedence of Employees’ Creativity: Evidence from IT, Educational and Advertisement Sectors of Pakistan

Abstract

This study aims to propose an elaborative theoretical framework to assess factors that influences creativity. We combine (Teresa M. Amabile et al., 1996; Jothi & Hin, 2015; Lin & Liu, 2012; Yeh & Huan, 2017) models featuring work and its environmental-related factors into one holistic framework to assess the antecedents and consequence of creativity. We propose two-level mediation to assess the effect of environmental variables on innovation and motivations through creativity as well as Job Stressors. Environmental factors included Leaders Behavior, Freedom, Resources, Social Support, Workload, Perceived Organizational Support, Person job fit, and Challenging work. Perceived Organizational Support was further affected by Organizational impediments, Supervisory encouragement, and Workgroup supports. These factors influence Job Stressors that include Challenge and Hindrance stressors, and work pressures in the environment. These stressors further affect creativity as proposed by Zhang & Wee (2018). We also categorize creativity into Quantity and Quality as per Yeh & Huan, (2017). Empirical validity was established by conducting a survey of employees in high creativity sectors like IT, Educational, and Advertisement. The result shows that among work and environmental factors, only Leaders Behavior, Perceived Organizational Support, and Challenging work significantly affect job stressors. On the contrary, job stressors significantly affect both Quantity and Quality of creativity. However, the subsequent effect of creativity on innovation and motivation could not be established.