Relationship Between Transformational Leadership and Organizational Learning Support Employee Creativity: Evidence from Vietnamese SMEs

Abstract

Purpose: The current study aims to investigate the mediating role of organizational learning (OL) on the relationship between transformational leadership (TFL) and employee creativity (EC) in Vietnamese SMEs. Theoretical framework: The world underwent enormous and ongoing changes in SMEs after the Covid-19 pandemic. Leaders and employees must be more effective and adaptive to enhance systems and processes and meet client requests. Recently, SMEs in Vietnam have struggled to improve CEOs and staff with the professional credentials necessary to compete in the market and integrate. Design/methodology/approach: The framework and hypotheses were examined using SEM on SPSS and AMOS software to analyse the data after receiving 397 valid responses from SMEs in Vietnam. Findings: Findings confirmed that TFL positively affects EC and OL. The role of individual motivation on individual consideration outweighs those of the other characteristics of TFL. OL played a partly mediator role in the relationship between TFL and EC. Research, Practical & Social implications: This study provides an inventory of knowledge about the reality of OL and its mediating role on the relationship between TLF and EC, which contributes to enriching the library in overall and Vietnamese in specific in this subject. Originality/value: This paper is one of the first papers in the Vietnamese SMEs context to address the mediating effect of OL between TLF and EC.