When leaders and peers positively facilitate creativity: the moderating role of absorptive capacity

Abstract

PurposeThis article explores the complementarity between leader encouragement of creativity and knowledge-sharing among peers in enhancing employee creativity in the hotel context. The authors further examine the role of absorptive capability in setting a contextual condition under which creativity affects employee performance.Design/methodology/approachA web-based survey and face-to-face interviews were a means of two-round data collection while using a partial least squares technique for model estimation.FindingsAn analysis of 277 employees showed that leader encouragement and knowledge-sharing are important for creativity to drive performance. At high levels of absorptive capacity, employee performance increases rapidly as creativity increases.Research limitations/implicationsThis article extends how the complementarity between leader encouragement and knowledge-sharing plays an important role in explaining employee creativity and performance under the boundary condition of absorptive capacity.Practical implicationsOrganizational managers could embrace a future creativity–performance strategy by developing absorptive capacity with reward systems to optimize employee performance.Originality/valueThis article substantiates the role of leader encouragement and knowledge-sharing in enhancing the relationship between employee creativity and performance. The strength of this relationship is dependent on the positive moderation of absorptive capacity.