Employee creativity: the effects of perceived learning culture, leader–member exchange quality, job autonomy, and proactivity

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of perceived learning culture, leader–member exchange (LMX) quality, job autonomy, and proactivity on employee creativity for knowledge workers in five Korean firms. Overall, the four predictors and control variables explained 57% of the variance in self-rated creativity and 14% of the variance in manager-rated employee creativity. Whereas proactivity was a stronger antecedent for self-rated employee creativity than the contextual factors, the contextual factors (i.e., learning culture, LMX quality, and job autonomy) explained manager-rated creativity better than proactivity did. The relationship between self-rated and manager-rated employee creativity was positive and significant, but modest (r = .24). Owing to the so-called initiative paradox, proactive employees who believe themselves to be more creative may not always be welcome by their managers in the Korean cultural context that is characterized as collectivistic, high in power distance, and high in uncertainty avoidance.