Foster Employee Creativity Research Articles

Contribution of Twenty-first Century Leadership to the Employees’ Innovative Work Behavior: A Systematic Literature Review

Employee innovative work behavior drives the generation of new ideas, which in turn fosters organizational innovation and competitiveness. Many elementsinfluence this behavior, the most important being the leadership. The term"innovative work behavior" has evolved, and this has led to a great deal ofresearch looking into different leadership roles and how they affect employeeinnovation. The research on leadership in the context of employee creativity andinnovation is extensive and encompasses more than one hundred leadershiproles from various viewpoints. Undertaking a Systematic Literature Review (SLR)in this field is essential to establishing future leadership strategies that effectivelytackle the intricate problems of contemporary industries. The 608 empirical studiesincluded in the current SLR were retrieved from the reputable databases Scopusand Web of Science. These studies investigated how leadership in primary,secondary, and tertiary industries foster employee creativity and innovation. Threekey themes are identified by the study: a comprehensive evaluation of variousleadership studies; an industry-specific analysis that reveals a narrow focus in theprimary sector; and an investigation of the transformational, transactional, andhybrid leadership styles. The SLR established taxonomies to classify previousresearch, identify unexplored domains, and direct the selection of variables forsubsequent research. In the era of digitalization, the conventional dominance oftransformational and transactional leadership is under threat from the need fornovel approaches to problem-solving. The literature emphasizes the importance ofadaptive leadership styles and the shortcomings of old leadership paradigms intackling contemporary issues. The study followed five steps SLR method fromformulating the research topic, carrying out an exhaustive search, putting inclusionand exclusion criteria to use, picking and extracting data from pertinent studies,and to presenting and analyzing the results. The synthesis of a large body ofresearch in this SLR makes a substantial contribution to our knowledge of the rolethat leadership plays in employee creativity. The identification of underexploredindustries requires targeted research efforts to address opportunities andconstraints unique to the primary industry, particularly in the agriculture sector.This can be accomplished by categorizing leadership styles, recognizing markettrends, and recommending taxonomies for further investigation. In conclusion, thisstudy offers valuable insights for developing effective leadership strategies thatfoster innovative work behavior and accelerate organizational innovation in thetwenty-first century

Enabling creativity: the interplay of participative leadership, coworkers’ knowledge sharing behavior and employee’s creative idea validation

PurposeBased on theory Z of leadership, this research aims to investigate the direct relationship between participative leadership (PL) and creative idea validation (CIV) fostering both radical (RC) and incremental creativity (IC). Additionally, by utilizing attribution theory, it explores the moderating effect of coworkers’ knowledge-sharing behavior (KSB) on both the direct and indirect relationships.Design/methodology/approachData were collected through a descriptive approach and convenient sampling from three sources – leaders, subordinates and coworkers – in R&D departments at multi-levels within 97 high-tech firms in China. Data comprised 446 employees (subordinates and coworkers) and 94 leaders, and multilevel path analysis was conducted using Mplus software.FindingsThe results indicate that PL exhibits both a direct and indirect positive association with RC and IC through the CIV. Moreover, the relationship is enhanced by coworkers’ high-KSB.Practical implicationsOur study offers implications that managers can leverage to foster employee creativity. Leaders are encouraged to embrace a PL style for collective idea validation. However, to overcome coworkers’ reciprocal behavior, they may facilitate trust and team-building exercises, enabling employees to strengthen relationships and share critical information and knowledge resources for the development and validation.Originality/valueThis study is the first to empirically extend the relationship between PL and CIV, utilizing a multilevel approach to assess its impact on distinctive types of creativity – namely, radical and incremental. Further, it testifies the significance of coworkers’ knowledge as an attribution effect influencing the relationships.

Competence Drives Interest or Vice Versa? Untangling the Bidirectional Relationships between Creative Self‐Efficacy and Intrinsic Motivation for Creativity in Shaping Employee Creativity

AbstractResearch has examined creative self‐efficacy and intrinsic motivation for creativity as important antecedents to employee creativity, but little is known about how the two antecedents influence each other to foster employee creativity. This study proposes two theoretical possibilities. First, by enhancing resilience, creative self‐efficacy can promote intrinsic motivation for creativity, which in turn boosts employee creativity. Task difficulty further strengthens creative self‐efficacy's effect on intrinsic motivation for creativity and employee creativity (via resilience). Second, by fostering creative process engagement, intrinsic motivation for creativity can promote creative self‐efficacy, which in turn boosts employee creativity. Task variability further amplifies the effect of intrinsic motivation for creativity on creative self‐efficacy and employee creativity (via creative process engagement). Results from two experiments and two field studies largely supported the hypothesized relationships. We extend the creativity literature by untangling the interrelationships between creative self‐efficacy and intrinsic motivation for creativity in shaping employee creativity.

Trust in Supervisor and Employee Creativity: The Mediating Role of Information Sharing.

Creativity is modern era productivity. Many efforts have been made to enhance employee creativity. This study adopted the social exchange model of creativity to understand in-depth the integrated effect of affective and cognitive trust in supervisor (ATS/CTS) on employee creativity. We recruited 528 subordinates who completed a three-wave survey at one-month intervals. Multilevel modeling results showed that ATS and CTS were positively related to employee creativity. Moreover, information sharing served as a mediator for the relationship between CTS and employee creativity, but not between ATS and employee creativity. In addition, the mediation effect of information sharing on ATS-employee creativity was significant for employees with high levels of CTS but not for those with low levels of CTS. Our results suggested an integrated effect of ATS and CTS in information sharing and its consequences on employee creativity. We have confirmed and extended the social exchange model by examining the integrated effect of ATS and CTS on employee creativity. CTS seems to be a threshold in the relationship between ATS and employee information sharing. Our findings clarify ways to develop human resource training to promote ATS and CTS to foster employee creativity.

Paradoxical leadership and employee creativity: knowledge sharing and hiding as mediators

PurposeThis study aims to explore the mediating role played by the contradictory behaviour of knowledge sharing and knowledge hiding in the relationship between paradoxical leadership and employee creativity.Design/methodology/approachA survey was conducted with 276 employees working in information technology firms in India. “To assess the relationship between the constructs, single and parallel mediation analysis of structural equation modelling (SEM) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) have been performed”.FindingsThis study found that paradoxical leadership is significantly associated with employee creativity. Besides, it has also been found that knowledge sharing has emerged as a mediator that explains the relationship between paradoxical leadership and creativity, while knowledge hiding has not been a mediator to explain the relationship between paradoxical leadership and creativity among employees. According to the study, it was found that discouraging knowledge-hiding behaviour can increase employee knowledge sharing, which in turn fosters employee creativity.Research limitations/implicationsResearch has examined the relationship between paradoxical leadership and employee creativity in this paradigm, as well as the roles of knowledge sharing and knowledge hiding as mediators.Practical implicationsThe results of this study will help top management to create strategies for enhancing the relationship between a leader and their subordinates by using effective knowledge management strategies that foster employee creativity. Employee creativity would be facilitated effectively by the paradoxical leader who regulates knowledge-hiding behaviour among employees and promotes knowledge-sharing behaviour.Originality/valueThis study addresses the gap in prior research by investigating the role of paradoxical leadership in managing the contradictory behaviours of knowledge sharing and hiding and their impact on employee creativity. As the motivation for knowledge sharing and hiding are inherently distinct, leaders with paradoxical qualities foster a culture of openness and trust to encourage knowledge-sharing while discouraging knowledge-hiding behaviour. By controlling knowledge-hiding behavior empowers employees to make meaningful contributions to the organization’s success through effective collaboration and teamwork, allowing for a more innovative and creative workplace. Because preventing knowledge-hiding behaviour is a means to promote knowledge sharing and ultimately foster creativity in an organisation. Overall, this paper offers unique insights into the intricate dynamics of knowledge management and provides valuable recommendations for leaders managing employees exhibiting contradictory behaviours in the workplace.

Supportive leadership and employee creativity: Will Leader-Member Exchange mediate the relationship?

Purpose: Purpose: This study proposes to integrate supportive leadership, leader-member exchange (LMX), and employee creativity. It suggests that LMX can play a role as a mediator. Research methodology: A total of 200 participants were included in this study. They were working for a tobacco company located in a district in Kulon Progo, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Analysis for hypotheses was done in SPSS and AMOS. Results: It was found that supportive leadership was positively related to leader-member exchange (LMX) and employee creativity. Leader-member exchange (LMX) was positively related to employee creativity. Finally, leader-member exchange (LMX) mediated the relationship between supportive leadership and employee creativity. Limitations: The participants of this study were taken from one company. This might lower the generalizability of the results. Another limitation of this study is the use is a cross-sectional method in the data collection which might result in a common method variance. Future studies could employ other data collection methods. For example, a multi-wave of data collection can remedy the problem. Contribution: The study suggests that a supportive leadership style is necessary to implement because it can promote a higher quality of the relationship between employees and their supervisors. More importantly, this aligns with the organizational effort to foster employee creativity. Novelty: The study found that supportive leadership can promote leader-member exchange (LMX) quality. Since the dyad relationship quality characterized by leader-member exchange (LMX) is necessary for team effectiveness, the investigation of the link may provide an understanding of the factors that may influence leader-member exchange (LMX).

Uncovering the effect of responsible leadership on employee creative behaviour: from the perspective of knowledge-based pathway

PurposeThe study aims to explore ‘motivational climate', which designs the recurring patterns associated with employees' attitudes, behaviour, and feelings. If organizations successfully adopt a motivational climate, such climate influences the performance and behavior of employees to a great extent. Responsible leadership plays a constructive role in injecting a motivational climate in an organization to ensure information flow. In a motivational climate, top management or leaders reward their employees for individual progress, improvement and mastery. Knowledge sharing is supported in a mastery climate because such a climate can reduce the motive of knowledge hiding and instead further help in stimulating creativity.Design/methodology/approachStudy was to scrutinize a moderated-mediation model, a quantitative hypothetic deductive approach to verify the hypotheses of the study. The data were gathered from employees and supervisors of advertising agencies and marketing departments in metropolitan cities of Punjab, Pakistan. Such firms and departments are considered because they offer a great opportunity to relevant variables and their relations. These organizations and departments are the most creativity-seeking domains and involve frequent interactions (for instance, regular meetings) between leaders with their employees and among peers. Data were primarily gathered from managerial employees performing their duties in the areas mentioned above.FindingsCurrent study reveals that RL has a positive and significant relation with employee creative behaviour. Increasing RL characteristics can ultimately boost employee performance in the creativity domain. Being a responsible leader becomes mandatory for leaders to foster employee creativity to maintain the sustainability of an organization. It is confirmed from the results that responsible leadership articulates the mind thinking of employees, which creates an open environment of information while persuading creative and similar behaviour.Originality/valueThe current research investigates how responsible leadership can efficiently leverage the stakeholder approach in influencing employees through a knowledge-based pathway to boost their creative behaviour. The current study tends to uncover the mediating effect of the basic construct of knowledge management, which is knowledge sharing. Knowledge sharing enables employees to exchange their information while creating mutual understanding, which helps in the smooth flow of knowledge within the organization; this flow enriches employees to think openly in a creative and appreciative environment.

Investigating the Influence of Social Media on Employee Creativity: A Perspective from Social Network Ties

ABSTRACT Despite the growing body of research on social media and its effects on employees, few studies have sought to explain the aims of social media users in firms and the mechanisms that link these to employee creativity. From the perspective of social networks, this study argues that using social media for work and social purposes in an enterprise fosters instrumental and expressive links among employees, which in turn fosters employee creativity. The role of instrumental and expressive social ties as mediators was investigated in this study. Furthermore, this research proposes that tie strength moderates the relationship between instrumental and expressive ties and employee creativity. We reveal that specific types of social media usage, such as work- and social-related usage, lead to employees’ instrumental and expressive ties, which promote employee creativity, using a sample of 325 Chinese employees. Furthermore, in our model, an employee’s tie strength serves as a second-stage moderator. The findings of this study substantiated most of our hypotheses which also had important theoretical and practical implications and guided scholars in the proper direction for further research.

How job complexity fosters employee creativity: a contextualized growth perspective and the mechanism of feedback-seeking

PurposeDrawing on the work design growth model (WDGM), this paper aims to explore the relationship between job complexity and employee creativity through feedback-seeking and the moderating effect of team leaders with a growth creative mindset.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used an online survey to test the hypotheses. Data was collected in three waves from 74 supervisors and 349 paired employees in China.FindingsJob complexity had a positive association with employees’ feedback-seeking, which further linked to employee creativity. This indirect effect was stronger in work teams with leaders endorsing a growth creative mindset.Practical implicationsJob complexity has become prevalent in organizations today. Taking daily complexity as a resource for nurturing employee creativity may balance organizations’ costs on formal training and give them more initiatives in long-term development. In addition, as the growth creative mindset is relatively easy to assess and change, it may bring insights in terms of creativity development.Originality/valueBy empirically testing the behavioural mechanism of WDGM, the learning and development perspective of work design offers a new explanation of the relationship between job complexity and employee creativity. The authors further extend WDGM by identifying leaders’ growth creative mindset to be a boundary condition.

Job and work context elements in fostering employee creative behavior: exploring the moderating role of work passion

AbstractHow does employees' work context and job characteristics influence their creative behavior? To explore this question, this study draws on the Job Demands – Job Resources (JD-R) model to examine the role of excessive work overload and training and development on employee creative behaviors. Additionally, the study explores whether employees' work passion mitigates or enhances the effects of work overload and training and development on their creative behavior. Data from 142 employee–supervisor dyads in a Singaporean telecommunications organization showed that work overload had a marginally significant positive effect on employee creative behavior. Additionally, employees' work passion was found to enhance the effects of training and development on their creative behavior. The study contributes to ongoing debates in the literature regarding how specific characteristics of one's job and targeted human resource practices may foster employee creativity.

An Inclusive Leadership Framework to Foster Employee Creativity in the Healthcare Sector: The Role of Psychological Safety and Polychronicity.

Creativity at the level of employees is of utmost importance for every sector of an economy, with no exception to a healthcare system. The reason why employee creativity is important lies in the fact that employees have profound knowledge of their job and thus can serve as a source of meaningful innovation in an organization. Research shows that employee creativity is largely dependent on leadership. Corporate leaders significantly influence subordinates’ behavior. However, with the economic development, globalization, and changing business environment, a traditional authoritative leadership style can no longer be effective in understanding employees’ psychological needs to foster their creative behavior. In this regard, the role of inclusive leadership as an effective organizational management strategy was recently discussed in literature at different levels. It was also stated that an inclusive leader could foster employee creativity. However, such relationships in healthcare systems of developing economies have largely remained under-explored previously. We explored employee creativity in a healthcare context of a developing economy in an inclusive leadership framework to bridge such knowledge gaps. We also investigated the mediating roles of psychological safety and polychronicity in the above-stated relationship. We collected the data from hospital employees through a questionnaire (paper–pencil method). A hypothetical model was developed, which was tested through structural equation modeling in AMOS. Based upon the statistical outcomes, we found that an inclusive leadership style in a hospital can significantly foster employee creativity, whereas psychological safety and polychronicity mediate this relationship. This study offers different theoretical and practical insights, especially to a healthcare system. An important finding was that an inclusive leader can motivate the followers to be more creative. This finding is significant for a hospital because creative employees provide a hospital with a solid competitive base.

Employee Creativity in Coworking Spaces: Towards a Conceptual Framework

Creative performance of knowledge workers outside the traditional office setting has become highly relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic. The prepandemic trend of companies using coworking spaces as an alternative workplace arrangement is expected to grow further. One important driver is that these collaborative workspaces are considered effective facilitators of creativity and innovation. The aim of this study is to fill a research gap by examining how corporate coworking may foster employee creativity, crucial for firm´s competitiveness and long-term survival. A systematic review of the coworking literature is conducted to critically evaluate employee creativity in coworking spaces. Structural, relational, and cognitive social capital along with an individual and contextual view of creativity are utilized as the theoretical foundation for analysis and synthesis. A novel conceptual framework is proposed for empirical examination of creative performance in a corporate coworking context. The study reveals that creative outcomes of coworking are largely taken for granted. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the most prominent factors influencing employee creativity in coworking settings are social interaction and knowledge sharing. We argue that fostering creativity in shared office environments is a complex phenomenon worth further scholarly attention. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, and future research avenues are proposed.

A CSR perspective to foster employee creativity in the banking sector: The role of work engagement and psychological safety

The entire service sector has acknowledged the importance of employee creativity. However, the underlying mechanism due to which employees are engaged in creativity has been relatively unexplored. Moreover, where the banking service sector in advanced countries has realized the potential role of employee creativity for a bank's success, the same was not fully realized in the context of a developing country, especially in Pakistan. Against this backdrop, the current study is an effort to explore the underlying mechanism of employee creativity as an outcome of corporate social responsibility (CSR) with the mediating effects of work engagement (WE) and psychological safety (PS) in the banking sector of Pakistan. Data were collected (n = 483) from banking employees through a self-administered questionnaire, which used the paper and pencil method. The hypotheses of the current survey were validated by employing structural equation modeling (SEM) in AMOS software. The results confirmed that employee creativity, as an outcome of CSR, was significantly influenced by the CSR orientation of a bank. Furthermore, PS and WE produced a significant mediation effect (41%) between the relationship of CSR and employee creativity. The findings of the current study are helpful to the banking sector of Pakistan in understanding the CSR-employee creativity mechanism, which is of utmost importance from the standpoint of competition.

Designing Activity-based Workspaces – An Analysis of Creativity Enhancers and Inhibitors in Physical Work Environments

Employee creativity is the origin of every innovation and therefore crucial for a company's success. For this reason, the promotion of employee creativity is gaining more and more attention among practitioners and companies are increasingly implementing activity-based workspaces (ABWs) to improve the creative performance of their employees. Based on desk sharing and a mix of open and closed spaces, ABWs allow employees to select optimal working conditions for the task at hand. Nevertheless, literature is divided on whether ABWs effectively promote employee creativity and which ABW elements enhance or inhibit creativity. To close this research gap, we conducted interviews with ABW experts ( N = 101). In the experts’ accounts of creativity enhancers and inhibitors, the former were emphasized more strongly. Most of the identified enhancers and inhibitors were related more to the area of human resources and work practices (e.g., territorial flexibility, bustling activity) than physical layout and facilities (e.g., inspirational design, the person-environment fit) and organizational culture and structure (e.g., atmosphere, mindset), which indicates that employees and appropriate ABW use are the crucial factors for promoting creativity, while facilities serve mainly as enablers. These findings offer valuable guidance in designing and developing ABWs to foster employee creativity. Keywords: activity-based workspace, physical work environment, creativity, innovation, qualitative study DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/14-4-01 Publication date: February 28 th 2022

Knowledge based human resource management and employee creativity: the dual mediation of knowledge sharing and knowledge hiding

Introduction. Employee creativity is an essential element that is required for the dynamic work environments. Companies able to foster employee creativity through knowledge based human resource management practices enhance their competitive advantage over companies who stifle employee creativity. The conceptual model in this paper aims to demonstrate that knowledge sharing and knowledge hiding mediate the relationship between knowledge based human resource management practices and employee creativity. The implementation of knowledge based human resource management practices can lead to increased knowledge sharing and decreased knowledge hiding both of which will result in increased employee creativity.
 Aim and tasks. The aim of this paper is to build on social exchange theory as the foundational theory for understanding how knowledge based human resource management practices impact employee creativity through the mediators of knowledge sharing and knowledge hiding. 
 Results. In previous research have studied the relationship between knowledge behaviors and employee creativity while accounting for motivational climate, transformational leadership, goal orientation, and various human resource management practices. Many of these factors have traditionally been exogenous variables to the individual employees working in organizations. While social exchange theory implies a dyadic exchange, it would be relevant to examine the endogenous variants within employees that might contribute to differential reactions to reciprocation. It is substantiated that individuals that have different exchange ideologies react differently to organizational support. The first section includes a literature review of the constructs - knowledge based human resource management, knowledge sharing, knowledge hiding, and employee creativity. The second section provides a model focusing on the impact social exchange theory has on the constructs, including theory-based propositions. In reviewing this model, the paper makes theoretical contributions to the constructs and social exchange theory. The final section provides direction for future research and discussion. 
 Conclusions. Creativity is the fuel for the 21st century’s competitive organizations. Researchers and practitioners alike rely on creativity to solve problems and improve products and services around the globe. It is important to deeply understand the antecedents necessary for creativity so that organizations employ systems and process that are conducive for creative production. From the theoretical foundations laid out in this paper, knowledge based human resource management practices will increase employee creativity through increased knowledge sharing and decreased knowledge hiding.

CSR practices and creativity during COVID-19 pandemic in the emerging market: investigating the mediating effect of affective commitment

PurposeThis study aims to explore how corporate social responsibility (CSR) dimensions (i.e. economic; legal; ethical; philanthropic) foster employee creativity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, an attempt is made to investigate the mediating role of affective commitment to explain the above linkage.Design/methodology/approachThe survey data were collected from 167 employees in the emerging market of Saudi Arabia. The data was analysed using PLS-SEM for frequency, reliability, confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation modelling.FindingsThe CSR dimensions, particularly the ethical and philanthropic dimensions, showed both direct and indirect effects on the creativity behaviour of employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, affective commitment mediated the relationship between the legal, ethical and philanthropic CSR dimensions and creativity behaviour.Originality/valueThis study enriches previous CSR empirical research and adds to current literature focused on the determinants of CSR dimensions' effectiveness; particularly, the research is set in a challenging scenario characterized by the pandemic. So, this paper extends previous studies by investigating under which key conditions CSR dimensions are most effective, in particular in two main directions. First, it contributes to the CSR literature by determining how various CSR dimensions influence creativity behaviour during a pandemic. Pandemics are events that occur regularly, and the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, offers the opportunity to explore its effects on employees' behaviours in the current context. Second, the study's mediation findings contribute to new empirical evidence which suggests that affective commitment has a positive effect on the CSR dimensions of employee creativity behaviour during a pandemic in an emerging market.

The impact of management support on individual learning opportunity and creativity performance in Hong Kong manufacturing companies

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore the relationship and effect of management support on individual creativity performance by focusing on the individual learning opportunity, adaptability to change and learning motivation in Hong Kong manufacturing companies.Design/methodology/approachThis study is based on survey data collection by using a respondent-driven approach from 266 employees working in Hong Kong-based manufacturing firms. The model and hypotheses were tested by employing variance-based structural equation modeling.FindingsThe findings indicate that management support has a positive effect on individual learning opportunity and creativity performance. Also, a significant positive relationship between individual creativity, performance, individual learning opportunity, adaptability to change, and learning motivation has been yielded. The management support has an overall positive link with all variables directly and indirectly.Practical implicationsTop management can foster employee creativity by supporting and providing learning opportunities and motivating employees to develop adaptive capability at an individual level.Originality/valueAn empirical study of how management support can foster individual creativity performance and individual learning opportunity. This study is one of the first to examine the positive relationship between management support and individual creativity by validating a purposed model, especially in the context of the Hong Kong manufacturing industry.

Respect: give it to get it! Does leadership complimented with respect can foster creativity?

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to advance the prevalent leadership–creativity perspective by examining respectful engagement as a missing link between transformational leadership and employees creativity in the tourism and hospitality industry of Pakistan.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 288 supervisor–subordinate dyads of hotel and tourism industry in Pakistan. Partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique was used to validate the measurement model and to test the proposed hypotheses using SmartPLS 3.0.FindingsThe results suggest that transformational leadership and respectful engagement are significantly related and that respectful engagement fosters employee creativity. The study further confirmed that respectful engagement mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and employee creativity.Practical implicationsBesides theoretical contribution, the study has several managerial implications for the tourism and hospitality industry. Globally, in the tourism and hospitality industry, the service selling proposition is largely based on creativity. Hence, the study suggests the managers of tourism and hospitality industry should adopt a transformational leadership style to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage of creativity. The study further recommends the managers capitalize on their transformational leadership style to observe respectful engagement in the workplace, which in turn can encourage employees to behave creatively.Originality/valueTheoretically, this paper contributes to the existing body of knowledge in a couple of ways. Firstly, while several empirical studies have discussed the impact of transformational leadership on employee creativity, and various mediating models have also been tested in this regard, little effort has been made to study the links between transformational leadership and employee creativity despite existing awareness about the importance of respectful engagement for employee creativity. Thus, the current study examines employee creativity with the lens of transformational leadership and respectful engagement. Secondly, the study integrates the theories of transformational leadership, employee engagement and employee creativity.

Workplace loneliness and employee creativity from a positive perspective

In recent years, feeling lonely in the workplace has become a serious issue that has gained growing concern due to its complex outcomes. Limited research is available on workplace loneliness and empirical research on workplace loneliness is still in infancy. The purpose of this quantitative research study is to determine whether a positive relationship exists between workplace loneliness and employee creativity in the tourism industry of Maldives. I propose a moderated mediation model in which workplace loneliness foster employee creativity via personal identity and knowledge hiding hinders it, and this effect is moderated by team identification. Role transition and social identity theory are used as an explanatory framework for workplace loneliness and employee creativity. Results from a study of 204 individuals show that workplace loneliness is positively and significantly related to employee creativity. Further analysis identified that personal identity is positively and significantly related to the relationship between workplace loneliness and employee creativity. The discussion concludes that a subjective and personal experience; workplace loneliness can foster employee creativity. These results contribute to the literature on creativity and workplace loneliness by clarifying how and what influences of workplace loneliness are related to employee creativity. Recommendation for further research are give

When ethical leadership and LMX are more effective in prompting creativity

PurposeDespite the immense amount of literature on ethical leadership and leader‒member exchange (LMX), little is known about how and when ethical leadership and LMX are more/less effective in prompting employee creativity. It is proposed that ethical leadership affects creativity through LMX. Furthermore, the authors draw upon an interactionist perspective and suggest that employee psychological capital is a dispositional boundary condition that influences the effectiveness of LMX in promoting employee creativity. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approachUsing a survey questionnaire, data were collected from 557 nurses and their supervisors working in public sector hospitals. The data were collected in two phases (time lagged) to avoid common method bias. Moderated mediation analysis was performed, using model 14 of PROCESS, to probe hypothesized relationships.FindingsThe results of the moderated mediation suggest that ethical leadership and LMX predict creativity. Ethical leadership indirectly affects creativity through LMX. Employee psychological capital moderates the direct effect of LMX and the indirect effect of ethical leadership on employee creativity.Research limitations/implicationsThe study contributes to the extant literature, as the findings suggest that, being a dispositional boundary condition, psychological capital plays a contingent role in explaining LMX and the ethical role of leaders in fostering creativity. Moreover, the results also confirm previous findings, which suggested that ethical leaders promote creativity.Practical implicationsThe findings imply that ethical leadership and exchange relationships are important for promoting creativity. Given that creativity is a complex product of an individual’s behavior, high psychological capital employees obtain benefits of quality exchange relationships and utilize them to elicit creativity. Managers are recommended to proactively develop and promote exchange relationships as well as positive psychological resources among employees to achieve creativity.Originality/valueThe study is unique in its scope and contribution, as it tries to develop an understanding of how and when ethical leadership and LMX foster employee creativity. Using an interactionist perspective to theorize psychological capital as a second-stage moderator is, thus, a unique contribution of this study.