Explicating intrinsic motivation's impact on job performance: employee creativity as a mediator

Abstract

PurposeEliciting superior job performance from the employees is a major challenge confronting the organizational leaders in today's hyper-competitive business environment. Though few studies established the influence of intrinsic motivation on job performance, the role of mediators like employee creativity in this relationship is not adequately researched. The purpose of the paper is to explore the mediating role of employee creativity in the relationship between intrinsic motivation and job performance.Design/methodology/approachThe cross-sectional research design was adopted, and data were collected from 346 full-time employees working in the retail industry in India through an online survey. Analysis of a Moment Structures (AMOS) software was used to test the validity of the hypothesized model, and PROCESS macro was used to test the mediation of employee creativity.FindingsThe findings showed that intrinsic motivation impacted both job performance and employee creativity. Furthermore, employee creativity impacted the employees' job performance. The key finding of the study is the partial mediation of employee creativity in the intrinsic motivation–job performance relationship.Originality/valueGrounded on self-determination theory (SDT) and componential theory of creativity, the paper enriches the literature by evincing the mediation mechanism in the effect of intrinsic motivation on job performance. Moreover, the current paper is one of the primary studies that explore the mediating role of employee creativity in the relationship between intrinsic motivation and job performance.