The Influence Of Manager Machiavellianism On Supervisor Boundary Spanning And Employee Creativity

Abstract

Middle managers, also known as supervisors, have a key integrative function in organizations. They serve as an interface between senior managers and employees and, at the same time, connect their group to other organizational groups through boundary spanning. It is well established that supervisors' boundary spanning, i.e., seeking advice from other organizational groups, is a potent antecedent of employee creativity. In this paper, we examine how supervisors foster employee creativity when these two roles are not aligned, namely when supervisors work for senior managers who are Machiavellian and limit their boundary spanning. Our main argument is that supervisors can align these roles by managing their relationship with their manager. We test our theory using data from two organizations. Using multilevel exponential random graph models, we examine the impact of manager Machiavellianism on supervisors' boundary spanning behavior, depending on the supervisor- manager relationship. Using hierarchical linear modeling, we then examine how manager Machiavellianism and supervisor-manager relationship jointly affect the creative returns for employees of supervisor boundary spanning. Our results provide support to our theory. We discuss the relevance of this study for our understanding of the role of supervisors in fostering employee creativity when their manager is a “bad boss”.