Abstract
We examine the association between benevolent leadership and team creative performance in scientific research teams. Moreover, the mediating effects of creative self-efficacy and the moderating effects of openness to experience on the relationship were also analyzed. The study sample comprised 251 postgraduates from 58 scientific research teams in Chinese universities. Results revealed that benevolent leadership was positively related to team creative performance, and creative self-efficacy partially mediated this positive relationship. When team personality composition had a high average team level of or a low level of variance on openness to experience, the relationship between creative self-efficacy and team creative performance was stronger. The same situation also occurred as an indirect effect of benevolent leadership on team creative performance through creative self-efficacy. This study suggests that while people may pay focus on benevolent leadership and creative self-efficacy, team personality composition should also be considered in scientific research team practices.
Highlights
We explore the role of team personality composition of openness to experience in the relationship between benevolent leadership and team creative performance, especially examining the heterogeneity or homogeneity of personality in teams on the leadership-outcome relationships at the team level
We conducted a series of confirmatory factor analyses to examine the construct distinctiveness of the four variables at the team level
Benevolent leadership had a positive relationship with creative self-efficacy (r = 0.29, p < 0.05) and team creative performance (r = 0.48, p < 0.01)
Summary
Teamwork appears to be a trend within many organizations, which is used to accomplish complex tasks (Hackman, 2002). Scientific research organizations are increasingly shifting focus from individuals to team-based structures. Considering the characteristics of scientific research, scientific research is classified as creativity-generating tasks based on McGrath’s typology (McGrath, 1984), which need to absorb novel ideas, diverse values, and substantial information. Previous theoretical work and empirical studies have identified that team-based structures are essential for team creative performance or productivity (Fay et al, 2015; Salas et al, 2015). Because of these benefits, understanding what stimulates team creative performance at scientific research teams, motivating scientific research teams for better team creative performance has become an important issue
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