Abstract
It has been shown that leadership is a major factor that influences creative performance. Although past studies have found that leader-member exchange (LMX) has direct effects on employee creative performance, there continues to be a lack of research examining how the LMX relationship mediates creative performance. This study used self-determination theory to examine the mediating effects of the LMX relationship on creative performance through attitudinal and emotional processes. Participants were supervisors and subordinates of township enterprises in the Pearl River Delta in China. There were 386 valid supervisor-subordinate dyads. Supervisors were responsible for assessing creative performance and the remaining variables were completed by employees. Results showed that high LMX increased the positive moods of subordinates, improved creative performance, and stimulated intrinsic motivation for improvement. Based on the results, we have proposed academic and practical recommendations such as organizations that want to encourage creativity, could begin by training managers to demonstrate high LMX by strengthening their relationships with employees. We also described study limitations, and suggested directions for future studies.
Highlights
In the context of increasingly fierce competition among enterprises, employee creativity is an important factor in determining company survival and growth
We propose the following hypotheses: H1: Intrinsic motivation is a mediating mechanism between leader-member exchange (LMX) and creative performance
Intrinsic motivation and positive mood were significantly positively correlated with creative performance (r = 0.26, p < 0.001; r = 0.25, p < 0.001, respectively)
Summary
In the context of increasingly fierce competition among enterprises, employee creativity is an important factor in determining company survival and growth. Previous studies have classified variables that affect employee creativity into those related to individual differences and organizational situations. Individual-difference variables include negative/positive moods (George and Zhou, 2007; To et al, 2015; Han et al, 2019), personality traits, such as openness to experience and conscientiousness (George and Zhou, 2001), and core self-evaluation (Saeed et al, 2019). Organization-related variables include work characteristics such as work complexity (Shalley et al, 2004), person-organization fit (Seong and Choi, 2019), and leadership (Tierney et al, 1999; Shin and Zhou, 2003; Wang and Cheng, 2010). Among leadership-related variables, previous studies have examined the effects of transformational leadership (Shin and Zhou, 2003; Gong et al, 2009), shared leadership
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