External learning activities and employee creativity in Chinese R&D teams

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine team external learning, particularly focusing on: how leader external learning behavior affects team external learning; how team external learning influences employee creativity; and whether team internal learning is a moderator between the cross‐level relationship of external learning and employee creativity in Chinese R&D teams.Design/methodology/approachSurvey questionnaire were administered to a sample of 80 R&D teams comprising 331 employees from three medium‐sized Chinese high‐tech companies. HLM was used to test cross‐level relationships.FindingsThe paper hypothesizes that: leader external learning positively influences team external learning; team external learning leads to employee creativity; and team internal learning moderates the relationship between team external learning and employee creativity. Results support hypotheses 2 and 3, but not hypothesis 1. In addition, leader external learning is found to positively influence employee creativity.Practical implicationsThis study has implications for both team leaders and top management. Although the context of this study is in Chinese R&D teams, all those teams facing similar environment to R&D teams can also learn from this study. There are several interesting implications for scholars who are studying teams, creativity and innovation.Originality/valueCombining fields of team learning, boundary spanning, creativity and leadership, the paper addresses the following four questions, and provides further insights to the area of team external learning: First, what is the cross level relationship between team external learning and employee creativity? Second, is internal learning a moderator on the relationship between team external learning and employee creativity in R&D project teams? Third, is leader external learning behavior one of antecedents of team external learning? Fourth, is there anything unique about team external learning in Chinese culture? The paper provides research evidence for each of these questions.