AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial...

166
AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS Wenjing Cai

Transcript of AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial...

Page 1: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY

IN ORGANIZATIONS

Wenjing Cai

Page 2: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Reading committee:

prof.dr. P.C. van der Sijde

prof.dr. C.P.M. Wilderom

prof.dr. J.B.R. Gaspersz

prof.dr. P.G.W. Jansen

dr. G.T. Vinig

The research in this dissertation was supported by a fellowship

from China Scholarship Council (NO. 201306340068) awarded to

Wenjing Cai.

Cover design: Bozhen (Elisa) Zhang & Zhi Zhang

Printed by: HAVEKA

IBSN: 978 90 5383 350 6

This book is number 27 in the ABRI Dissertation Series.

@ Wenjing Cai, 2018

Page 3: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT

AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY

IN ORGANIZATIONS

ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT

ter verkrijging van de graad Doctor aan

de Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam,

op gezag van de rector magnificus

prof.dr. V. Subramaniam,

in het openbaar te verdedigen

ten overstaan van de promotiecommissie

van de Faculteit der Bètawetenschappen

op donderdag 8 maart 2018 om 9.45 uur

in de aula van de universiteit,

De Boelelaan 1105

door

Wenjing Cai

geboren te Hefei, China

Page 4: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

promotoren: prof.dr.ir. B.A.G. Bossink

prof.dr. S.N. Khapova

copromotor: dr. E.I. Lysova

Page 5: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Table of Contents

List of Tables 7

List of Figures 8

Chapter 1 Introduction 9

1.1 Research Background 9

1.2 The Main Topics of Research 12

1.3 Research Contributions 20

1.4 Thesis Outline and Research Approach 21

1.5 Thesis Research Output 23

Chapter 2 Maximizing Employees Creativity: Uncovering Interactional

Effects of Abilities, Motivations, and Opportunities 27

2.1 Introduction 28

2.2 Theoretical Lens 29

2.3 Application of the AMO Theory 32

2.4 New Typology of Interactions 38

2.5 Discussion 45

Chapter 3 Extending the Understanding of the Relationship Between

Psychological Capital and Employee Creativity: Examining the Effects of

Supervisor Support for Creativity and Job Characteristics 49

3.1 Introduction 50

3.2 Theoretical Background 52

3.3 Methods 57

3.4 Results 59

3.5 Discussion 66

Page 6: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among

Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative Efficacy

Beliefs 69

4.1 Introduction 70

4.2 Theory and Hypotheses 73

4.3 Methods 79

4.4 Results 82

4.5 Discussion 84

Chapter 5 Servant Leadership Promoting Innovative Work Behavior in

Chinese High-Tech Firms: The Role of Meaningful Work and Job

Autonomy 91

5.1 Introduction 92

5.2 Theory and Hypotheses 94

5.3 Method 99

5.4 Results 101

5.5 Discussion 108

Chapter 6 Discussion 113

6.1 Summary of the Main Findings per Topic 113

6.2 Theoretical Implications and Related Future Research Directions 116

6.3 Practical Implications 123

6.4 Limitations 126

6.5 Conclusions 127

References 129

Summary 157

Nederlandse Samenvatting (Dutch Summary) 159

Appendix 161

Acknowledgements 165

Page 7: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

List of Tables

Table 1. 1 Overview of the Studies in Chapter 2-5 ............................... 24

Table 3. 1 Demographic Statistical Analysis ........................................ 58

Table 3. 2 Comparison of Measurement Models .................................. 61

Table 3. 3 Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlations .................... 62

Table 3. 4 Results of the Regression Analysis ...................................... 63

Table 3. 5 Simple Slope Comparisons for Three-way Interactions ...... 64

Table 4. 1 Results of the CFA Models .................................................. 82

Table 4. 2 Means, Standard Deviations and Correlations ..................... 85

Table 4. 3 Results of HLM Predicting Entrepreneurial Leadership, Team

Creative Efficacy, Creative Self-efficacy, and Employee

Creativity .......................................................................... 86

Table 4. 4 Results of Hierarchical Regression Analysis Predicting

Entrepreneurial Leadership, Team Creative Efficacy, and

Team Creativity ................................................................ 87

Table 5. 1 Comparison of Measurement Models ................................ 104

Table 5. 2 Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlations .................. 105

Table 5. 3 Results of Hierarchical Regression Analysis ..................... 106

Table 5. 4 Results of Moderated Mediation ........................................ 107

Table 6. 1 Research Questions and Key Findings per Chapter ........... 114

Page 8: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

List of Figures

Figure 2. 1 Conceptual Framework of Interactions in Creativity

Literature. .......................................................................... 40

Figure 3. 1 The Research Model ........................................................... 51

Figure 3. 2 Two-way Interaction of PsyCap and SSC/ Job Characteristics

on Employee Creativity .................................................... 65

Figure 3. 3 Three-way Interaction between PsyCap, SSC, and Job

Characteristics on Employee Creativity ............................ 65

Figure 4. 1 A Theoretical Model of the Multilevel Effects of

Entrepreneurial Leadership on Efficacy Beliefs and

Creativity ........................................................................... 72

Figure 5. 1 The Hypothesized Model ................................................... 94

Figure 5. 2 Moderating Effects of Autonomy on the Servant Leadership-

Meaningful Work Relationship ....................................... 107

Page 9: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 1

9

Chapter 1 Introduction

In the dynamically changing world, organizations are increasingly relying on

employee creativity. By promoting employees to generate creative ideas and

products for the market, organizations can achieve innovation and maintain

competitive advantages (Shalley, Zhou, & Oldham, 2004; Woodman, Sawyer, &

Griffin, 1993; Zhou & Hoever, 2014). Considering the critical importance of

creativity, practitioners are searching for ways to facilitate employees’ creative

performance. However, existing knowledge on creativity predictors and drivers

remains incomplete. To help organizations effectively manage employees’

creativity, this dissertation aims to elucidate what predictors from organizations

and employees themselves can align to engender creative results.

1.1 Research Background

1.1.1 Lessons from prior research

Previous scholars have investigated predictors that contribute to high level of

employee creativity. In this regard, they have found that both organizations and

employees can exert a significant influence in awakening employees to produce

creative outcomes. Specifically, a stream of research has shown that employees’

own characteristics can help them to devise creative ideas. Theoretically,

individual characteristics, such as problem-solving abilities, creative

personalities, and broad interests and knowledge, may internally signal

employees’ potentials for creativity, because such characteristics highly indicate

how individuals think about themselves in generating creative outcomes. For

example, some psychological attributes (e.g., intrinsic motivation, self-efficacy,

and identity) may activate employees’ cognition and confidence in approaching

problem solving and engaging in creative endeavors (e.g., Zhang & Bartol,

2010). Concurrently, some studies have centered on identifying organizational

factors as predictors of employee creativity, as certain working conditions may

encourage creativity (Woodman et al., 1993). In this regard, previous research

has provided accumulative evidence indicating that a variety of relevant

contextual variables enhance employee creativity. Specifically, organizations can

appoint a supervisor to effectively lead followers to make new changes, build a

team so that members can interact to achieve creative goals by sharing

information and knowledge, and provide employees with well-designed tasks to

allow them to try new solutions flexibly and persistently.

Page 10: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 1

10

Although scholars acknowledge the independent influences of organizations and

employees above, research suggests that simultaneously considering their effects

may provide a better understanding of how to promote creativity (Shalley et al.,

2004; Zhou & Hoever, 2014). Indeed, when creativity occurs in organizations,

the critical organizational context may shape employees’ creativity directly or

indirectly through several mechanisms (Zhou & Hoever, 2014). Specifically,

some research based on the perspective of the social psychology of creativity

highlights that specific contextual factors may indirectly affect creativity by

influencing certain creativity-relevant components. Basically, given that

personal factors are subject to the effects of the working environment, research

suggests that if the context exerts a favorable influence on employees’ intrinsic

motivation and abilities, these high-level employee attributes are more likely to

stimulate employees’ creative performance (Amabile, 1996). Within this line of

research, accumulative empirical studies have investigated the underlying

mediators and concluded that psychological mechanisms (e.g., harmonious

passion and positive affect) transfer the impact of context to employee creativity.

Empirically, transformational leaders exert a positive influence on employee

creativity by fostering employees’ creative self-efficacy (Gong et al., 2009).

Another line of research, based on the traditional theory of interactional

psychology (Schneider, 1982), claims an interactional perspective (Woodman et

al., 1993) where contextual and personal factors interact with each other in

predicting employee creativity. That is, the context determines the effectiveness

of individual attributes in influencing creative outcomes. For illustration,

because the context provides critical conditions for individuals to utilize their

desirable personal characteristics in order to pursue creativity, considering the

accentuating or attenuating influence of the context may engender a more

complete understanding of how personal factors influence employee creativity

(van Knippenberg & Hirst, 2015; Zhou & Hoever, 2014). For example, as

previous research suggests that a positive relation exists between creative self-

efficacy and employee creativity, Richter, Hirst, van Knippenberg, and Baer

(2012) found that the positive effects can be strengthened by the team context

(e.g., informational resources) (Richter et al., 2012).

1.1.2 Research problem and questions

However, thus far, how such factors can be aligned to awaken employee

creativity has not been thoroughly investigated. Specifically, given the mixed

findings on the influences of several factors on creativity (e.g., transformational

leadership), it is suggested to investigate through what explanatory mechanisms

Page 11: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 1

11

and under what boundary conditions personal or contextual predictors may

contribute to employees’ creative outcomes. Specifically, to maximize employee

creativity, research should examine how contextual factors may interact with

personal factors to provide the best explanation for employees’ creative

performance (van Knippenberg & Hirst, 2015). Meanwhile, to look inside the

black-box of the context-creativity relationship, researchers are encouraged to

explore the intervening mechanisms through which the context may lead to

creativity, as well as the interactions of personal and contextual factors in this

regard (Zhou & Hoever, 2014). These unclear issues constrain scholars’

understanding of the effects of organizations and individuals in creativity and

practitioners’ ability to effectively manage creativity in organizations. Thus, to

further address these issues, more examinations should be conducted to

determine key personal and contextual variables for employee creativity that

have not been documented in the creativity literature, especially those that may

generate additional positive effects on creativity. Although creativity research

has been developed over the last decade to identify a wider range of predictors

from both the context and individuals, it has focused on specific facets (e.g.,

Anderson, Potočnik, & Zhou, 2014) and thus failed to advance our knowledge

on the connections between various predictors and creative results.

Overall, aiming to provide more insights into these important yet unclear

research problems, in this dissertation, I focus on identifying the factors from

both organizations and employees that simultaneously trigger employee

creativity. Specifically, I propose several main topics that are relevant for

explaining the complex influences on employee creativity: 1) How human

resources (HR) can awaken employee creativity? 2) How employees themselves

can awaken their own creativity? 3) How leaders can awaken employee

creativity? 4) How job designs can awaken employee creativity? 5) How

employee creativity can be awakened in teams? These questions are investigated

in the four studies of this dissertation. Notably, for each questions, I aim to not

only reflect on each main aspect of awakened initiatives from organizations and

employees but also illuminate the interdependence of this aspect with other

initiatives. The following sections elaborate on the main topics of research (1.2),

research contributions (1.3), thesis outline and research approach (1.4), and

thesis research output (1.5).

Page 12: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 1

12

1.2 The Main Topics of Research

Throughout this dissertation, I use the widely accepted definition of creativity:

employee creativity refers to individuals generating novel and useful ideas,

products, and processes (e.g., Amabile, 1996; Anderson et al., 2014; Woodman

et al., 1993), and team creativity refers to team members jointly developing and

producing ideas, products, and processes with novelty and usefulness. As the

first step of innovation, creativity can occur at the level of the individual and at

the level of the work team, but it will invariably result in identifiable benefits at

one or more of these levels of analysis. Although there are several definitions of

creativity in existing research from various research field (e.g., Runco & Jaeger,

2012), the definition we used specifically reflects the primary purpose of this

dissertation—extending our understating of employee creativity in the

organizational settings. That is, this definition specifically focuses on creative

outcomes in organizations including creative solutions to business problems,

creative business strategies, or creative changes in job processes (e.g., Shalley &

Gilson, 2004; Zhou & Shalley, 2003). Thus, from a standpoint of organizational

management and research, we follow pervious relevant studies in organizational

behavior research to use the definition above. Moreover, employee innovative

work behavior (IWB) refers to a series of individual activities aimed at the

generation, promotion, and realization of ideas for new technologies, processes,

techniques, or products (Janssen, 2000; Janssen & Van Yperen, 2004; Yuan &

Woodman, 2010).

1.2.1 Awakening employee creativity from an HR perspective

Given that employees are the major assets for organizational innovation,

scholars have recently suggested that human resource management (HRM) can

facilitate creativity (Agarwal & Farndale, 2017; Chang, Jia, Takeuchi, & Cai,

2014). Specifically, to foster employee creative performance, which is an

important aspect of employee outcomes (e.g., Jiang, Wang, & Zhao, 2012),

researchers suggest that HRM practices may enhance employees’ ability,

motivation and opportunity to participate in creative work processes (Farr &

Tran, 2008; Mumford, 2000), such as selection, training, structuring work

activities, devising rewards, promotion, setting creative goals and expectations,

and organizing teams (Jiang et al., 2012; Martinaityte, Sacramento, & Aryee,

2016). These HRM practices have been found to overlap with creativity

predictors in organizational behavior research. For example, creativity

researchers have found that job autonomy is an antecedent of employee

Page 13: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 1

13

creativity, while HRM scholars have shown that providing more autonomy to

employees may promote their (creative) performance.

Although existing theoretical arguments suggest that a strong connection exists

between HRM and employ creativity, few studies in the creativity research field

have investigated the role of HRM (Jiang et al., 2012). To address this important

yet relatively limited research issue, I draw on the Ability-Motivation-

Opportunity (AMO) model—a basic HRM theory—to address the narrow view

of interactions in the existing creativity literature. Specifically, the AMO model

provides new lens of HRM to address the questions for which research thus far

has generated limited conclusions regarding the combinational effects of the

context in boosting the ability of personal predictors to generate higher levels of

creativity. First, as argued above, creativity predictors can be categorized into

HR practices within AMO model, as increasing employees’ creative

performance is an important result of HRM. If this logic is extended, creativity

antecedents represent the implementation of ability-, motivation-, and

opportunity-enhancing HRM practices (Appelbaum, 2000; Boselie, Dietz, &

Boon, 2005; Jiang, Lepak, Hu, & Baer, 2012; Paauwe, 2009). Specifically,

ability-enhancing practices refer to practices aiming to increase employees’

ability and attributes, including selecting employees with certain personal

characteristics (e.g., creative self-efficacy and creative personality); motivation-

enhancing practices refer to practices aiming to foster employees’ motivation in

work engagements, including rewards, leadership or supervisory behaviors, and

goals and expectations; and opportunity-enhancing practices refer to practices

aiming to provide opportunities for employees to participate into work processes,

including job design, team work, and organizational climate and culture.

I propose that the AMO model in the HRM literature can explain the interactions

in creativity. The basic assumption in the AMO model is that bundles of HR

practices from the above three dimensions exert complementary or synergistic

influences on employee performance (Subramony, 2009). This assumption

aligns with the interactionist model in the creativity literature (Farr & Tran,

2008). That is, the independence of practices signals the interplay among

creativity predictors (Woodman et al., 1993; Zhou & Hoever, 2014). For

example, To, Fisher, Ashkanasy, and Rowe (2012) found that employees’

positive mood interacts with supervisory support in facilitating a higher level of

creativity. Notably, this type of interaction considers two main practices:

employees’ positive mood represents an ability-enhancing practice, and

supervisory support represents a motivation-enhancing practice. In the same vein,

Page 14: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 1

14

Zhou, Hirst, and Shipton (2012) found that employees’ regulatory focus, leaders’

intellectual stimulation, and opportunities for participation together generate a

significant interactive effect in eliciting the highest level of employee creativity.

This type of interaction notably involves three main practices: employees’

regulatory focus represents an ability-enhancing practice, leaders’ intellectual

stimulation represents a motivation-enhancing practice, and participation

represents an opportunity-enhancing practice.

1.2.2 Employees awakening their own creativity

A branch of research focuses on what kind of personal characteristics may

facilitate employee creativity (for reviews, see Anderson et al., 2014; Shalley et

al., 2004), such as creative personality, cognitive style, and positive or negative

affect (e.g., George & Zhou, 2007; Wolfradt & Pretz, 2001; Zhou, 2003). These

favorable personal predictors may determine the extent to which employees

recognize problems and search for new knowledge in pursuing creative ideas

and solutions. Significantly, most studies adopt a psychological perspective

(Klijn & Tomic, 2010). Specifically, researchers acknowledge that personal

psychological attributes generate an internal motivation to stimulate employees’

creative engagements, such as intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy. Moreover,

individuals’ psychological traits are subject to influences from the organizational

environment (Amabile & Pillemer, 2012), which signals the theoretical

importance on considering how organizational predictors may exert an influence

on employees’ psychological capital (PsyCap) for creativity. However, existing

research has integrated only the role of personal psychological attributes to a

limited extent: 1) Although scholars acknowledge the potential benefits of

positive psychology on creative outcomes (e.g., Sweetman, Luthans, Avey, &

Luthans, 2011), surprisingly little is known about how to maximize the effects of

PsyCap—a typical positive psychological factor for creativity (Rego, Sousa, &

Marques, 2012). 2) Despite the positive impacts of creative self-efficacy—an

important aspect of PsyCap—on employee creative performance (e.g., Tierney

& Farmer, 2002, 2011), the mixed results on whether creative self-efficacy

transfers the influence of the context (e.g., leadership) to creativity call for more

examinations of creative self-efficacy as a mediator (Liu, Jiang, Shalley, Keem,

& Zhou, 2016). 3) Similarly, the inconsistent results on traditional psychological

factors (e.g., intrinsic motivation) in creativity research call for further

explorations of other motivational mechanisms that link the context to creativity

(Amabile & Pratt, 2016; Liu, Chen, & Yao, 2011). Thus, I follow two main

theoretical frameworks in creativity literature to address these research gaps by

Page 15: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 1

15

illustrating the influences of various personal psychology (i.e., PsyCap, creative

self-efficacy, and meaningful work) and organizational factors simultaneously.

The first framework is the interactionist perspective, which considers how

contextual variables interplay with personal characteristics in affecting

organizational creativity (Woodman et al., 1993; Zhou & Hoever, 2014). Most

creativity research stresses how contextual predictors accentuate or attenuate the

effects of personal psychological factors on creativity (van Knippenberg & Hirst,

2015). Evidently, this line of research indicates that leadership issues and job

characteristics (as important aspects of the context) positively moderate the

person-creativity relationship (e.g., Shalley, Gilson, & Blum, 2009; Zhou et al.,

2012). The main reason is that leaders and enriched jobs in favor of creativity

match employees’ creative personal attributes, which may enhance the

likelihood that employees utilize their personal advantages for creative

achievements. This reasoning is consistent with the trait activation theory (Tett,

Simonet, Walser, & Brown, 2013), which suggests that the strength of the match

between the context and personal traits may foster their potential benefits for

(creative) outcomes (van Knippenberg & Hirst, 2015). That is, supervisor

behaviors and task characteristics with creativity-promoting orientations underlie

the strength of the context, which may positively shape the psychological

attributes associated with creativity. Thus, I extend this line of research by

highlighting that leaders and job design may bring out the benefits of employees

PsyCap, which is essential for better employee (creative) results (e.g., Anderson

et al., 2014; Zhou & Hoever, 2014).

The second framework is the componential theory (developed into the dynamic

componential model of creativity and innovation) (Amabile & Pratt, 2016)

which suggests that contextual variables may predict creativity and innovation

outcomes through a primary motivational mechanism (e.g., by influencing

personal motivations) (Amabile, 1996). Although personal intrinsic motivation

conceptually acts as an essential mediator in transferring the impact of the

context to creativity, the inconsistent results have forced scholars to explore

other manifestations of personal motivations. In this regard, empirical studies

have explored and identified alternative mediating mechanisms that account for

creativity (e.g., harmonious passion) (e.g., Liu et al., 2011). Following this line

of research, my research attention focuses on two main concepts: creative self-

efficacy and employees’ perception of meaningful work. Since the above

arguments emphasize the positive psychology, which includes an important

aspect (i.e., self-efficacy), I draw on social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1991) to

Page 16: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 1

16

identify creative self-efficacy as the psychological mechanism underlying

creativity (Gong, Huang, & Farh, 2009; Liu et al., 2016). That is, leadership (e.g.,

entrepreneurial leadership) may boost employees’ creative self-efficacy and thus

further foster their creative performance. Furthermore, given that failures are

inevitable during the creative process, employees who experience work as

meaningful may increase their contributions to valuable activities (e.g.,

innovation) (Cohen-Meitar, Carmeli, & Waldman, 2009). Based on the dynamic

componential model of creativity and innovation (Amabile & Pratt, 2016),

leadership focused on triggering innovation and creativity (e.g., servant

leadership) (van Dierendonck & Rook, 2010) may promote employees’

perception of meaningful work, which would in turn lead to a high level of

innovative and creative results.

1.2.3 Leaders awakening employee creativity

As proximal contextual factors, leadership or supervisory factors, such as

transformational leadership, authentic leadership, and supervisor behavior (e.g.,

Gong et al., 2009; Rego et al., 2012), have been fundamentally and significantly

indicated in many studies to influence creativity (Anderson et al., 2014; Shalley

et al., 2004). Generally, as HR has been mentioned to awaken creativity, leaders

may motivate employees to engage in creative activities by fostering their

psychological states (e.g., Zhang & Bartol, 2010)and by providing a context

where employees can receive encouragement and support in generating creative

ideas (e.g., Amabile, 1996). However, evidence thus far shows that traditional

leadership styles offer a weak explanation for creativity in the literature. For

example, the influence of transformational leadership—a typical traditional

leadership style—on creativity is mixed in existing research (Hammond, Neff,

Farr, Schwall, & Zhao, 2011; Rosing, Frese, & Bausch, 2011), and it is

empirically redundant (Van Knippenberg & Sitkin, 2013). Thus, this major

problem regarding the incompatibility of leadership and creativity engenders an

emergent research topic: how creativity-oriented leadership or supervisory

behavior, specifically, influences creativity (Anderson et al., 2014; Mainemelis,

Kark, & Epitropaki, 2015). To address this research gap, scholars have called for

research on a broad range of different leadership styles or supervisory behaviors.

Therefore, I follow previous research suggestions and propose three important

leadership and supervisory factors—entrepreneurial leadership, servant

leadership, and supervisor support for creativity—to explain their influences in

the creativity research field. All these factors are claimed to theoretically

contribute to creativity, but little empirical research has examined them in detail.

Page 17: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 1

17

Entrepreneurial leaders’ characteristics of risk taking and proactivity overlap

with employees’ creative attributes, and leaders’ behaviors in setting innovation

goals and building team members foster subordinates’ creative endeavors.

Specifically, facing an uncertain environment with heightened competition,

entrepreneurial leaders can help employees reach their potential to challenge

risks—for instance, through fostering creative self-efficacy—to effectively

realize creative and innovative achievements (Gupta, MacMillan, & Surie, 2004).

Thus, entrepreneurial leaders boost employees’ creative self-efficacy by setting

creative goals and stimulating their cognitive thinking to realize these goals

(Gupta et al., 2004), and in this way, they contribute to high level of creativity

because creative efficacy provides an unshakable sense of persistence in creative

investments (Tierney & Farmer, 2002, 2011). Furthermore, servant leadership is

characterized as a follower-oriented type of leadership (Avolio, Walumbwa, &

Weber, 2009; Walumbwa, Hartnell, & Oke, 2010; Yoshida, Sendjaya, Hirst, &

Cooper, 2014) that is highly required for an organization’s long-term success in

today’s competitive business world (Panaccio, Henderson, Liden, Wayne, & Cao,

2015). By displaying a series of behaviors to give priority to subordinates,

servant leaders develop subordinates’ potential and self-motivation to increase

innovative engagements and outcomes (Liden, Wayne, Liao, & Meuser, 2014;

Van Dierendonck, 2011). Servant leaders’ behaviors may build followers’ sense

that their (innovative) work is meaningful, with significance for the entire

organization (Nord, Brief, Atieh, & Doherty, 1990). Consequently, employees

are motivated to put more effort into challenges related to innovation (Cohen-

Meitar et al., 2009). Regarding to the more creative-specific supervision, the

concept of supervisor supports for creativity highlights leaders’ behaviors

specifically aimed at fostering employee creativity (Baer & Oldham, 2006).

These behaviors primarily enable employees to have a sense of valued creativity

in organizations, and they receive encouragement and assistance in coping with

risks and difficulties. These beneficial stimulators create a desirable environment

where employees adequately utilize their personal psychological strengths to

achieve creative results.

1.2.4 Awakening employee creativity through job design

Early research suggests that organizations designing workplace jobs may

directly influence employee creative performance (Oldham & Cummings, 1996;

Tierney & Farmer, 2002). Basically, well-designed tasks—which are significant

and identifiable and provide autonomy, feedback, and opportunities to use

employees’ skills (Hackman & Oldham, 1976)—stimulate employees’

Page 18: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 1

18

“excitement about their work activities and their interest in completing these

activities, and this excitement should foster creativity”(Shalley et al., 2004, p.

938). Recent studies have treated job characteristics as a boundary condition

where creativity can be enhanced by certain predictors (e.g., Shalley et al., 2009),

since variations in creativity are mainly dependent on whether employees’ tasks

have a creativity requirement (Shalley, Gilson, & Blum, 2000). For example,

when employees are assigned with autonomous tasks, they are more likely to be

responsible for their creative work because they feel more freedom to determine

the methods and spaces for accomplishing tasks (Coelho & Augusto, 2010).

Moreover, since job characteristics exert a potential influence on the relationship

between leaders and employees (Volmer, Spurk, & Niessen, 2012), they may act

as decisive factors in establishing or amplifying how employees perceive the

influences from leaders (Wang & Cheng, 2010). However, the scant number of

empirical exanimations in this line of research limits our comprehensive

understanding of the influence of job design on creativity. Consequently,

following the reasoning above, I primarily provide a comprehensive picture on

the moderation effects of job characteristics (i.e., task significance, skill variety,

task identification, feedback, and job autonomy) on employee creative or

innovative results.

The person-in-situation perspective provides a basic lens for considering how

job characteristics and individual traits generate interactive influences on

individual outcomes (van Knippenberg & Hirst, 2015). Inherently, it indicates

that environmental factors (e.g., job characteristics) determine the extent to

which employees’ psychological attributes translate into behavior and

performance (van Knippenberg, 2012). Job characteristics can create a beneficial

environment that cues a (creative) expectation to stimulate employees to

consistently use their desirable psychological traits for (creative) achievements

(Coelho & Augusto, 2010). Given the benefits of employees’ psychological

traits, creativity-promoting job characteristics may accentuate the process where

individuals draw on their psychological traits to produce creativity in the face of

challenges (Kim et al., 2010; Shalley et al., 2009).

To further understand the influence of job characteristics on creativity, we

integrate the arguments on leadership issues above to clarify whether the

effectiveness of leadership influences may be determined by job design. This

theoretical argument corresponds to the situational leadership theory (Podsakoff

& MacKenzie, 1997), which suggests that the influences of leadership or

supervisory behavior depend on other factors related to the working environment

Page 19: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 1

19

(Wang & Cheng, 2010). That is, considering the task context in which leadership

or supervisory behavior occurs may address the incomplete or inaccurate

conclusions on whether leadership affects employee creativity (Avey, Palanski,

& Walumbwa, 2011). Theoretically, employees’ perceptions of the working

context (e.g., job characteristics) and of supervisors may interrelate (Salancik &

Pfeffer, 1978). Consequently, when leaders display behaviors or leadership

styles that foster employee creativity, this influence may be activated to a higher

level by job characteristics.

1.2.5 Awakening employee creativity in teams

Organizations are turning to design team-based work systems to allow more

employees to work together towards creative achievements (Pirola‐Merlo &

Mann, 2004). Given that creativity cannot occur in isolation, teams act as a

major component of the working context that influences employees’ creative

endeavors (Hirst, Van Knippenberg, Chen, & Sacramento, 2011; Hirst, Van

Knippenberg, & Zhou, 2009). Specifically, team characteristics (e.g., team

learning behavior, team diversity, and team goal orientation) shape employee

creativity in teams, since the interactions within teams potentially affect team

members’ cognitive resources for identifying problems, processing information,

and devising creative solutions (Gong, Kim, Lee, & Zhu, 2013). However,

empirical studies on the potential benefits of teams on creativity remain limited

(Chen, Farh, Campbell-Bush, Wu, & Wu, 2013; Taggar, 2002). The deep

knowledge about how team characteristics trigger employee creativity has

significant implications for organizations ability to manage teams and employee

creativity (Zhou & Shalley, 2008). Therefore, I aim to enrich this line of research

by investigating the influences on employee creativity from a team level.

To determine the top-down effects of team factors on employee creativity, most

researchers rely on the process perspective in the creativity literature (Hülsheger,

Anderson, & Salgado, 2009). Primarily, processes in team are characterized as

the interaction of employees’ cognitive resources to produce creative ideas (Shin,

Kim, Lee, & Bian, 2012). Within the team context, employees who share

information and exchange knowledge may develop a strong belief that their

teams have the creative capability (i.e., creative team efficacy) to initiate creative

activities (Bandura, 1986). In addition, creative team efficacy, which shares

similarities with employees’ creative self-efficacy (Bandura, 2000), may have

motivational effects on employees’ creative endeavors. The motivational

influence lies in the fact that employees are likely to build a sense that achieving

shared goals in teams is valuable and encouraged (Liu et al., 2016). Specifically,

Page 20: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 1

20

when the team has strong confidence (i.e., efficacy) in generating creative

solutions, a desirable context where team members can reduce the psychological

risks associated with creative endeavors can be created.

1.3 Research Contributions

In addressing these research topics, I make several important contributions to

existing creativity research. First, by discovering new contextual and personal

factors (e.g., entrepreneurial leadership and meaningful work) and showing their

contributions to creative outcomes, I integrate theories related to these factors

and creativity theory to provide a comprehensive picture of various predictors of

creativity. Such an investigation answers scholars’ call for research analyzing a

broad range of unexplored creativity predictors. In addition, by reexamining the

effects of several factors (e.g., creative self-efficacy, supervisor support for

creativity) under continued debate in creativity research, this thesis provides new

evidence to establish their influences on creativity. Hence, I add more consistent

findings to creativity research. Overall, this thesis then refines the scholarly

understanding on the role of various contextual and individual predictors of

creativity.

Second, this thesis helps enrich the paucity of studies investigating the

mechanisms by which the context boosts employee creativity. Based on the

newly identified and reexamined variables above, I test the influences of

leadership styles (i.e., entrepreneurial leadership and servant leadership) on

creativity from a mediator-based perspective. Relying on motivational

mechanisms, I specifically open the black-box of leadership-creativity

associations by establishing key employee psychological characteristics (i.e.,

creative self-efficacy and meaningful work) to extend the incomplete

understanding of the motivational processes that link leadership and creativity.

Furthermore, by considering the multilevel nature of the mechanisms, I add

empirical evidence to the limited stream of studies by testing whether a

motivational factor at the team level (i.e., team creative efficacy) may transfer

the effect of leadership to creativity in the workplace. In this way, this thesis

offers significant insights on multilevel phenomenon in the creativity

literature—advancing a more complete account of drivers of creativity across

levels.

Finally, from an interactional perspective, I provide a new lens to understand in

depth the complex interplay between personal and contextual factors driving

Page 21: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 1

21

creativity with two different studies. Specifically, a conceptual framework

analyzes different interactions where various contextual factors may separately

or jointly accentuate the positive effects of personal factors on creativity, which

is fully supported by an empirical study. Moreover, this thesis goes beyond the

mediation and moderation effects in creativity research by studying the

conditional indirect effects, which extends theoretical arguments regarding

whether task characteristics determine the effect of leadership styles on follower

outcomes.

1.4 Thesis Outline and Research Approach

Integrating the theoretical arguments above, the current thesis separately

addresses the specific research topics in four following chapters. Specifically,

with regard to the first topic, Chapter 2 integrates the AMO model into creativity

literature to illustrate the interactions of creativity predictors. The results

highlight that employees themselves, leaders and job characteristics within

organizations can simultaneously foster employee creativity, which provides

guidelines for the following studies. The second topic is addressed in Chapters 3,

4, and 5. In three studies, I examine the influences of several employee

psychological characteristics on creativity (PsyCap in Chapter 3, creative self-

efficacy in Chapter 4, and meaningful work in Chapter 5). To address the three

topics on leadership issues, I use Chapters 3, 4, and 5 to examine the ability of

different leadership styles or supervisor behaviors to foster employee creativity

and innovation (supervisor support for creativity in Chapter 3, entrepreneurial

leadership in Chapter 4, and servant leadership in Chapter 5). Chapters 3 and 5

mainly address topic four by examining the moderation effects of job

characteristics. Finally, Chapter 4 tests whether team factors (i.e., creative team

efficacy) contribute to employee creativity, which provides evidence to address

the last topic.

Chapter 2 provides a conceptual framework that organizes the employee

creativity literature focusing on an interactional perspective. To illustrate the

important but less investigated topic, I draw on the AMO model to argue that the

creativity variables with different functions can interplay in different ways to

predict employee creativity. I first categorize these variables into ability-,

motivation-, and opportunity-enhancing practices, according to their different

practical functions. Then, I provide two main types of interactions—the

combination type and multiplicative type—to theoretically explain how

Page 22: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 1

22

motivation- and opportunity-enhancing practices separately and jointly

accentuate the main influences of ability-enhancing practices on creativity.

Chapter 3 builds on the trait activation theory to illustrate how different

contextual factors separately and jointly facilitate the influence of positive

psychological attributes on employee creativity. Specifically, it aims to explore

the how supervisor support for creativity (a contextual predictor) and job

characteristics (a working predictor) moderate the positive relationship between

PsyCap and individual creative performance. Although existing research has

acknowledged the benefits of PsyCap on creative outcomes, knowledge on the

conditions under which this relationship is possible remains quite limited. To

address this important research gap, I conduct a quantitative study on a Chinese

sample (N = 356) from multiple industries. Consistent with the existing finding

that PsyCap predicts employee creativity, the results show that both supervisor

support for creativity and job characteristics positively moderate the PsyCap-

creativity linkage. Moreover, PsyCap is most effective at enhancing creativity

when both SSC and job characteristics are high.

Chapter 4 takes a multilevel perspective to examine the relationship between

entrepreneurial leadership, creative efficacy beliefs, and creativity at both the

team and individual level. Based on the assumption that entrepreneurial

leadership facilitates employee and team performance, I extend the motivational

perspective in creativity research to propose that creative efficacy beliefs are an

important motivational force that mediates the entrepreneurial leadership-

creativity relationship. Specifically, based on a survey of 237 employees in 43

teams from Chinese companies, the results show that creative self-efficacy

mediates the association between entrepreneurial leadership and employee

creativity and that team creative efficacy not only mediates the association

between entrepreneurial leadership and team creativity but also exerts cross-level

influences in predicting employee creativity and mediates the association

between entrepreneurial leadership and employee creativity.

Chapter 5 examines the relationship between servant leadership and employee

innovative behavior from a process perspective. Drawing on the dynamic

componential model of creativity and innovation, I develop a theoretical model

examining meaningful work as a mediator and job autonomy as a moderator in

the relationship between servant leadership and employee IWB. Using a sample

of 288 employees from three high-tech firms in China, I found that servant

leadership positively influences individuals’ perception of meaningful work,

which in turn fosters employee IWB. Furthermore, the results show that this

Page 23: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 1

23

mediating relationship is conditional on the moderator of job autonomy for the

path from servant leadership to meaningful work.

Chapter 6 presents the overall conclusions, where key findings are summarized,

theoretical and practical implementations are discussed, and future research

avenues are proposed.

1.5 Thesis Research Output

Table 1. 1 provides the overview of the studies in this thesis.

Page 24: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 1

24

Table 1. 1 Overview of the Studies in Chapter 2-5

Chap-

ter Title

Research

design

HR

manageme

nt

Employee

themselves

Leadership

issues

Job

design

Teams

proper-

ties

Conference

presentation

Journal

publication

status

2

Maximizing Employees

Creativity: Uncovering

Interactional Effects of

Abilities, Motivations,

and Opportunities

Qualita-

tive

Ability-,

motivation-

and oppor-

tunity

enhancing

practices

Accepted for

presentation at the

Biennial

International

Conference of The

Dutch HRM

Network (2017)

Under review

at the Human

resource

management

3

Extending the

Understanding of the

Relationship Between

Psychological Capital

and Employee

Creativity: Examining

the Effects of

Supervisor Support for

Creativity

and Job Characteristics

Cross-

sectional,

employees

from

multiple

industries

in China

(N = 356)

PsyCap

Supervisor

support for

creativity

Job char-

acteristics

Presented at the

20th Anniversary

Conference

DRUID (2016)

Revise and

resubmit at the

Creativity and

Innovation

Management

Continued

Page 25: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 1

25

(Continued)

Chap-

ter Title

Research

design

HR

Manage-

ment

Employee

themselves

Leadership

issues

Job

design

Teams

proper-

ties

Conference

presentation

Journal

publication

status

4

Does Entrepreneurial

Leadership Foster

Creativity among

Employees and Teams?

The Mediating Role of

Creative Efficacy

Beliefs

Cross-

sectional,

employees

(N = 237)

and leaders

(N = 43)

from eight

Chinese

companies

Creative

self-

efficacy

Entrepre-

neurial

leadership

Team

creative

efficacy

Presented at the

Academy of

Management

Annual Meeting

(2017)

Revise and

resubmit at

the Journal

of Business

and

Psychology

5

Servant Leadership

Promoting Innovative

Work Behavior in

Chinese High-tech

Firms: The Role of

Meaningful Work and

Job Autonomy

Cross-

sectional,

employees

from three

Chinese

high-tech

companies

(N = 288)

Servant

leadership

Job

Auton-

omy

Accepted for

presentation at

the Biennial

International

Conference of

The Dutch HRM

Network (2017)

Under

review at the

Journal of

Leadership

& Organiza-

tional

Studies

Page 26: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 1

26

Page 27: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 2

27

Chapter 2 Maximizing Employees Creativity:

Uncovering Interactional Effects of Abilities,

Motivations, and Opportunities1

Abstract

Researchers increasingly note that employees’ creativity is the result of the

interplay between various factors in an organizational context and employees’

individual characteristics. However, few studies have thus far addressed the

effects of contextual factors on the link between individual predictors and

employees’ creativity. In this paper, we argue that one reason for this is a lack of

clear theory and frameworks that capture interactional effects on creativity. To

address this gap, we propose using the ability-motivation-opportunity (AMO)

theory to conceptualize the different interactions that are able to maximize

employee creativity. We use the AMO theory to first conceptualize ability-

enhancing practices as personal predictors, and motivation- and opportunity-

enhancing practices as contextual predictors. Next, we depict combination and

multiplicative models that can explain how motivation- and opportunity-

enhancing practices separately and jointly accentuate the main influences of

ability-enhancing practices on creativity. Based on the extant research, we show

that the combination model can explain higher levels of creativity and the

multiplicative model is able to explain the highest level of creativity.

Keywords: Creativity, Interactions, HRM, AMO theory, Future research

This chapter is based on: Wenjing Cai, Svetlana N. Khapova, Evgenia I. Lysova

& Bart A.G. Bossink. Maximizing Employees Creativity: Uncovering

Interactional Effects of Abilities, Motivations, and Opportunities. Human

Resource Management: Under Review.

Page 28: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 2

28

2.1 Introduction

In the dynamically changing business world, employees’ creativity plays an

important role in defining organizational success (Shalley & Gilson, 2004;

Woodman, Sawyer, & Griffin, 1993; Zhou & Shalley, 2011). Therefore, both

practitioners and scholars are unsurprisingly engaged in searching for predictors

of employees’ creativity (for a review see Anderson, Potočnik, & Zhou, 2014).

In this regard, one of the main discoveries thus far is that the effects of

employees’ personal characteristics on creativity are influenced by contextual

factors (e.g., Richter, Hirst, van Knippenberg, & Baer, 2012; Zhou & Hoever,

2014). However, very few empirical studies have addressed the interactional

effects of personal and contextual factors on creativity, thus providing a limited

perspective on how “the impact of situation influences… (can be) better

understood as contingent on individual characteristics” (van Knippenberg and

Hirst 2015, p 225). One reason for this lack of studies is the absence of a clear

theory and frameworks that capture interactional effects on creativity (Zhou &

Hoever, 2014).

To better understand how an interaction between individual and organizational

factors can lead to employees’ creativity, we propose drawing on the AMO

theory (ability-motivation-opportunity theory) (Appelbaum, 2000). The AMO

theory proposes that employees’ performance in organizations is guided by the

presence of the three work systems: ability-, motivation-, and opportunity-

enhancing practices. In the absence of any of these work systems in

organizations, employees exhibit low performance. Given that creativity is

increasingly an indicator of the employees’ performance, we also propose that

the consideration of all three work systems is fundamental to explaining

employee creativity (c.f. Siemsen, Roth, & Balasubramanian, 2008). Our

suggestion is in line with the interactionist perspective increasingly entering the

creativity literature debates (Shalley, Zhou, & Oldham, 2004; Zhou & Hoever,

2014). We propose that the AMO theory can help to categorize contextual and

personal variables into three dimensions (i.e., ability-, motivation-, and

opportunity-enhancing practices) and help to develop combination and

multiplicative models explaining employee creativity.

According to the multiple configurations of bundles in the AMO literature, there

are two main models of interactions: the combination model (i.e., motivational-

or opportunity-enhancing practices separately activate the positive influences of

ability-enhancing practices on creative performance) and the multiplicative

Page 29: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 2

29

model (i.e., motivational- or opportunity-enhancing practices jointly activate the

positive influences of ability-enhancing practices on creative performance) (Bos-

Nehles, Van Riemsdijk, & Kees Looise, 2013). Acknowledging the ability-

enhancing practices as a prerequisite for performance, existing research suggests

that the combination model indicates a higher level of performance and the

multiplicative model indicates the highest level of performance (e.g., Bello-

Pintado, 2015; Gould-Williams & Gatenby, 2010; Kim, Pathak, & Werner,

2015). Thus, our conceptual framework, which has two main interactive models,

complements the interactional perspective of creativity by clarifying how

personal predictors (i.e., ability-enhancing practices) leading to the higher or

highest level of employee creativity can be explained by different manners of

interplay among contextual predictors (i.e., motivation- and opportunity-

enhancing practices).

In the following sections, we begin with a definition of creativity and a

theoretical lens to integrate our creativity literature and the AMO theory.

Thereafter, we introduce a categorizations of creativity antecedents into the

AMO model (i.e., ability-, motivation-, and opportunity-enhancing practices) to

describe their direct effects on creativity under different functions. Next, we

explain how the two alternative models (i.e., the combinative model and the

multiplicative model) can help to address the interactions in creativity. We end

by discussing theoretical implications and future research avenues before

offering practical implementations and limitations.

2.2 Theoretical Lens

2.2.1 Definition of Creativity

Creativity has been a topic of interest for both scholars and practitioners for

more than 35 years (Amabile & Pillemer, 2012). It can be defined as the

production of novel and useful products in any domain (Amabile, 1996).

Creativity can be observed at the individual, team, and organizational levels

(Anderson et al., 2014). Thus, to be creative, team or individual ideas should be

both novel and useful; they should also have potential value for organizational

development (George, 2007). Thus, creativity can involve both minor

incremental adaptations and radical breakthroughs (Madjar, Greenberg, & Chen,

2011; Mumford & Gustafson, 1988).

Page 30: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 2

30

Creativity is fundamentally different from innovation (e.g., Anderson et al.,

2014). Innovation refers to the “development and implementation of new ideas

by people who over time engage with others within an institutional context”

(Van de Ven, 1986). Individual or team creativity is the first step towards

innovation (e.g., Shalley, Zhou & Oldham, 2004). Therefore, both management

scholars and practitioners are seeking management tools and approaches to

facilitate employees’ creativity (e.g., Binyamin & Carmeli, 2010).

2.2.2 AMO Theory Relevance to Creativity Research

The AMO theory is one of the most established (HR) management theories

concerning the facilitation of employees’ performance. The theory suggests that

people perform well when they have the skills, knowledge and abilities to

perform (A = abilities); when they are motivated to perform (M = motivation);

and when they are provided with opportunities and support from an organization

to perform (O = opportunity) (Appelbaum, 2000; Subramony, 2009). This

equation is: P = f (Ability, Motivation, Opportunity). That is, organizations can

provide various HR practices to increase these three dimensions to encourage

employees’ high performance: ability practices, motivation practices, and

opportunity practices. Specifically, regarding ability practices, rigorous selection

and extensive training ensure that employees have the appropriate abilities to

improve performance. Regarding motivation practices, performance appraisal,

incentives and rewards, promotion, and relationships with supervisors motivate

employees to enhance working behaviors. With respect to opportunity practices,

flexible job design, teamwork, employee participation, organizational climate

and culture for supports, and information sharing empower employees to

perform better (Appelbaum, 2000; Boselie, Dietz, & Boon, 2005; Jiang, Lepak,

Hu, & Baer, 2012). The relevance of the AMO theory and creativity could be

explained in the following two ways.

First, as discussed at the outset, HR practices within the AMO theory can be

applied to represent the creativity predictors. Therefore, we propose that ability

practices are personal creativity factors and that motivation and opportunity

practices are contextual creativity factors. In particular, ability practices (e.g.,

training and recruitment) enable employees’ natural capacities (e.g., skills,

experience, and attitudes) relevant to performing tasks (Boon, Belschak, Den

Hartog, & Pijnenburg, 2014; Minbaeva, 2013), which emphasizes improving

employees’ personal attributes (Kim et al., 2015). This points to the practical

implementations of creativity research, enabling organizations to select and train

employees with personal characteristics crucial for creativity (e.g., creative self-

Page 31: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 2

31

efficacy and creative personality). Motivation practices include organizational

incentives (e.g., pay and performance appraisal), which extrinsically motivate

employees. These practices are relevant to certain contextual creativity factors

(e.g., rewards and goal setting). Opportunity practices, which are based on

organizational support theory (Boon et al., 2014), job design theories (Hackman

& Oldham, 1975), and the empowerment literature (Kroon, Van De Voorde, &

Timmers, 2013), signal favorable employee involvement practices for employees’

performance (e.g., teamworking, job design, and organizational (climates for)

supports). These practices have all been examined in the creativity literature as

contextual factors.

Second, as discussed at the outset, the AMO theory suggests that interactive

relationships among ability, motivation, and opportunity practices can generate a

positive synergistic effect on performance (Bayo-Moriones & Galdon-Sanchez,

2010; Jiang et al., 2012; Knies & Leisink, 2014; Kroon et al., 2013). That is,

employees will perform creatively when they have the abilities and desirable

attributes, are motivated adequately, and can fully participate in the work

process (Boselie, 2010; Boxall & Purcell, 2003; Chang, Jia, Takeuchi, & Cai,

2014; Jiang, Wang, & Zhao, 2012). Specifically, in the combination model,

motivation- or opportunity-enhancing practices in combination with ability

practices contribute to a higher level of creativity, while in the multiplicative

model, practices of the three dimensions are presented simultaneously with

motivation- and opportunity-enhancing practices jointly supporting and

reinforcing ability-enhancing practices to achieve the highest level of creativity.

We take the personality of openness—a personal predictor in the creativity

literature that can be ascribed to an ability-enhancing practice according to our

categorizations above—as an example to illustrate the two main interactive

models. Based on the positive direct effect of employees’ openness on their

creativity (e.g., Dollinger, Urban, & James, 2004; Silvia, Nusbaum, Berg, Martin,

& O’Connor, 2009), scholars found that diversity in the team (ascribed to an

opportunity-enhancing practice because it provides more opportunities for

employees to access new information) actives the influences of openness

towards a higher level of creativity (Baer, 2010). Furthermore, research indicates

that when feedback (ascribed to a motivation-enhancing practice because it

stimulates employees’ motivations) and a heuristic task (ascribed to an

opportunity-enhancing practice because it provides opportunities for employee

engagements) both exist, employees with openness will achieve the highest level

of creativity (Zhou & Oldham, 2001).

Page 32: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 2

32

The following sections mainly reflect the two points above to analyze the

interactionist perspective in creativity within the AMO theory. We first provide

the application of the AMO theory by reviewing extant empirical studies on

antecedents of creativity and by organizing findings following the AMO theory.

That is, based on the different functions of creativity predictors, we classify the

findings into three dimensions (i.e., ability-, motivation-, and opportunity-

enhancing practices). Next, we draw on the basic types of HR practices bundles

to provide a framework using two models to review how these HR

practices/creativity predictors bundle/interact with each other towards a higher

level of employee creativity.

2.3 Application of the AMO Theory

Given the connection between practices in the AMO theory and predictors in the

creativity literature, our analysis establishes categorizations of the creativity

predictors. Reviewing the existing empirical creativity studies, we summarize

the creativity predictors (i.e., personal and contextual factors) and classify them

into the three dimensions of the AMO model. In particular, the personal factors

of employee creativity can be categorized into ability-enhancing practices, while

the contextual factors can be categorized into two dimensions—motivation- and

opportunity-enhancing practices—according to the factors’ different HRM

functions (more theoretical explanations on the categorizations will be provided

below).

There are several significant issues regarding the classification scheme. First,

although the AMO theory suggests that employee selection and training are two

main aspects of ability-enhancing practices (Appelbaum, 2000; Boxall & Purcell,

2003; Jiang et al., 2012; Lepak, Liao, Chung, & Harden, 2006), few creativity

studies address these two facets. To detail the categorizations of the ability

dimension, we suggest personal characteristics in creativity literature as ability-

enhancing practices. The main reason for this categorization lies in its specific

practical implementation: personal factors reflect HRM issues concerning

organizations selecting candidates with these personal characteristics and

providing specific training to promote these personal characteristics to

encourage greater creativity. For instance, several scholars (e.g., Hirst, Van

Knippenberg, Chen, & Sacramento, 2011; Hirst, Van Knippenberg, & Zhou,

2009) examined the positive impact of learning goal orientation on creativity and

suggested that selecting learning-oriented candidates was more likely to boost

creative performance.

Page 33: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 2

33

In addition, categorizing creativity determinants as ability-, motivation- or

opportunity-enhancing practices is not always clear-cut because they are

multidisciplinary determinants conceptualized in different research situations

(Guest, Conway, & Dewe, 2004). For example, although some researchers claim

that job design motivates employees towards creativity (Ohly & Fritz, 2010), we

follow HRM scholars in classifying job design as a typical practice of

opportunity enhancement (Appelbaum, 2000) because a well-designed job

focuses on the opportunities surrounding people who enable or constrain their

own motivations towards creativity (Blumberg & Pringle, 1982). Additionally,

scholars show that organizations can guarantee employees the enjoyment of

autonomous jobs to broaden their opportunities for participation (Bello‐Pintado,

2015; Boselie et al., 2005; Knies & Leisink, 2014; Kroon et al., 2013), which in

turn increases employees’ creative performance (Coelho & Augusto, 2010). In

this research, we primarily focus on the theoretical definitions and functions in

the AMO literature (Appelbaum, 2000) to categorize the three dimensions of

creativity factors.

2.3.1 Creative Predictors: Ability-enhancing Practices

Ability in the AMO theory stresses the role of HRM in designing selection and

training procedures to obtain talent with personal characteristics that encourage

performance (Appelbaum, 2000; Boselie et al., 2005). As mentioned above,

ability-enhancing practices emphasize that employees with certain personal

attributes may facilitate creative outcomes, such as a creative personality, self-

efficacy and intrinsic motivation. We follow existing reviews (e.g., Anderson et

al., 2014; Zhou & Shalley, 2011) to divide ability-oriented personal factors into

four aspects: personality/cognition, personal motivations2, affect/mood, and

others. The following review of the different types of creativity also refers to

these four aspects.

Personality/cognition. Most research has demonstrated that employees with

certain dispositional differences, such as creative personality, Big Five

personality traits, and divergent cognitions, may produce more creativity (e.g.,

Wolfradt & Pretz, 2001; Zhou, 2003). A theoretical explanation within this

domain is that these personalities encompass the general tendency to seek

2 Personal motivations are different from motivation-enhancing practices below.

Motivation-enhancing practices suggest that contextual factors motivate

employees; and the personal motivation in ability-enhancing practices concerns

internalized personal characteristics.

Page 34: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 2

34

challenges and produce creative ideas. For example, Baer (2010) found a

positive relationship between openness to experience and creativity. Moreover,

emerging research has recently captured the benefits of proactive personality and

behaviors on creativity because proactivity initiates changes that stimulate

individuals in gaining knowledge and achieving creative goals (Kim, Hon, &

Lee, 2010). Regarding the benefits of cognitions, Tierney, Farmer, and Graen

(1999) highlighted the importance of cognitive style by illustrating the positive

influences of innovative cognitions on creativity.

Personal motivation. A few studies based on Amabile’s (1996) componential

theory examine the beneficial role of intrinsic motivation (defined as individual

engagement for interests and internal satisfaction) in predicting creativity (Shin

& Zhou, 2003). Several related constructs, such as intrinsic interest and prosocial

motivation likewise have positive associations with creativity (Grant & Berry,

2011). When employees feel excitement and are fully engaged in tasks, they tend

to explore creative ideas and methods (Oldham & Cummings, 1996). In addition,

in goal orientations studies (Hirst et al., 2011; Hirst, Van Knippenberg, et al.,

2009; To, Fisher, Ashkanasy, & Rowe, 2012), Gong, Huang, and Farh (2009)

found that learning orientation is associated with creativity because it encourages

individual development and competence towards creative achievements. In

addition, most current research is examining creative self-efficacy as a

significant predictor of creativity (for a review, see Liu, Jiang, Shalley, Keem, &

Zhou, 2016). A prominent contribution to the association between creative self-

efficacy and creativity is found in Tierney & Farmer (2002) and Tierney and

Farmer (2011). They found that creative self-efficacy significantly fosters

individuals’ creative actions by “generating strong creative aspiration levels”

(Tierney & Farmer, 2002, p.1141). In addition, some self-centered predictors can

also act as motivational drivers for creativity, which emphasizes introspection of

confidence (Hirst, Van Dick, & Van Knippenberg, 2009). For example, Jaussi,

Randel, and Dionne (2007) suggest that a creative personal identity predicts

creativity because this self-definition helps individuals realize and utilize their

unique internal properties (e.g., intelligence) to engage more extensively in

creativity.

Affect/mood. Some research investigates the link between emotional phenomena,

such as affects, mood, and emotion, and employee creativity because these

attributes are directly related to people’s actions on the job (Amabile, Barsade,

Mueller, & Staw, 2005). Specifically, emotions exert significant effects on

processing information (Baas, De Dreu, & Nijstad, 2008), which builds and

Page 35: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 2

35

broadens individuals’ cognitions and resources (De Dreu, Baas, & Nijstad, 2008).

For example, Bledow, Rosing, and Frese (2013) found that a shifting experience

of affects (the initial experience of both positive and negative affect followed by

a decreasing negative affect and an increasing positive affect over a short time

frame) was associated with individual creativity.

Others. A few interesting studies examine the influences of other personal

determinants, such as perspective taking, autonomy orientation, focus of

attention, creative ability, and beliefs (e.g., Choi, Anderson, & Veillette, 2009;

Chua, 2013; Madjar & Ortiz‐Walters, 2008; Van Dyne, Jehn, & Cummings,

2002). For example, Yu and Frenkel (2013) found that an employee’s sense of

obligation to act appropriately is a superior predictor of creativity.

2.3.2 Creative Predictors: Motivation-enhancing Practices

In the AMO theory, motivation focuses on organizational compensation and

incentives to extrinsically motivate employees to use their skills, knowledge and

enthusiasm for job performance (Appelbaum, 2000; Jiang et al., 2012). Typical

practices include developmental performance management, incentives and

rewards, promotion and career development, and job security (Jiang et al., 2012).

These practices express organizational respect to the workforce and motivate

them towards the desired job performance (Appelbaum, 2000). Moreover,

Appelbaum (2000) stressed the importance of developing mutual trust

relationships and supervisory behaviors among motivation-enhancing practices

because these issues act as encouragement for individual engagements. In our

review, we suggest that goals and some leadership issues are also motivation-

oriented practices. As an effective motivational technique, goal setting in

particular provides clear targets and directs individual attention towards task

achievements (Madjar & Shalley, 2008). Leadership styles and behaviors, such

as supervisory motivation promotion (Zhou & Shalley, 2011), directly guide

employees towards creative outcomes through encouraging and modeling

(Shalley & Gilson, 2004; Zhou & George, 2003). Notably, given the different

functions of leadership styles, we suggest empowerment leadership as an

opportunity-enhancing practice because it focuses on providing employees

opportunities for authorization that encourages effective outcomes (e.g., Alge,

Ballinger, Tangirala, & Oakley, 2006; Zhang & Bartol, 2010).

Rewards. Reward is one of the positive and common motivation-enhancing

practices in the HR literature (Appelbaum, 2000; Jiang et al., 2012). Research on

the influences of extrinsic rewards on creativity holds two opposing ideas (Malik

Page 36: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 2

36

& Butt, 2016): some found that rewards contribute to creativity (Eisenberger,

Pierce, & Cameron, 1999; Friedman, 2009), while others found a negative

relationship between the two (Amabile, Conti, Coon, Lazenby, & Herron, 1996).

From the cognitive perspective, the negative effects of rewards on creativity

originates from the assumption that rewards—as an extrinsic motivation—

constrain individual cognitions and reduce self-interest to undermine creativity.

From the behavioral perspective, researchers claim that rewards fulfill

employees’ need for competence, which connects their efforts to creativity (e.g.,

Eisenberger & Aselage, 2009; Shin & Zhou, 2003). In the HRM context,

rewards as an important aspect of payment systems signal that what behaviors

and outcomes are expected in an organization, thereby incentivizing employees’

good performance (e.g., creativity).

Leadership and supervisory behaviors. Most research has examined the role of

various leadership styles and supervisory behaviors (Amabile et al., 1996;

George & Zhou, 2001; Oldham & Cummings, 1996; Tierney & Farmer, 2002,

2004) because of their informational signals as motivational stimulation

(Amabile, 1996). These styles include transformational leadership, aversive

leadership, and benevolent leadership (Choi et al., 2009; Khazanchi &

Masterson, 2011; Liao, Liu, & Loi, 2010; Tierney et al., 1999; Wang & Cheng,

2010). As a reflection of leadership, leader behaviors, such as supervisor support

(for creativity) and unconventional behaviors, also impact followers’ creativity

(e.g., Hirst, Van Knippenberg, et al., 2009; Jaussi & Dionne, 2003; Liu, Liao, &

Loi, 2012; Ohly, Sonnentag, & Pluntke, 2006; Shavinina, 2003; Tierney &

Farmer, 2002, 2004; To et al., 2012; Zhou, 2003; Zhou, Hirst, & Shipton, 2012).

Furthermore, leader-member relationships, especially leader-member exchange

(LMX), trust, and justice, relate to creative performance (George & Zhou, 2007;

Gong, Cheung, Wang, & Huang, 2012; Gong, Kim, Lee, & Zhu, 2013;

Khazanchi & Masterson, 2011).

Goals and expectations. One of the most salient factors for creativity is goal

setting, which motivates employees by impacting self-regulatory mechanisms

(Shalley, 1995). Goal setting clarifies targets and requirements by which

individuals can judge their behaviors and then direct their attentions to facilitate

creativity (CsikszentmihĂĄlyi, 1990). Shalley’s (1991) study highlights that

creative and productive goals are facilitative to creativity. Research also noted

that work expectations lead to creativity by shaping employees’ responses in

order to realize the potential consequences.

Page 37: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 2

37

2.3.3 Creative Predictors: Opportunity-enhancing Practices

Organizing work processes that ensure employees have opportunities to display

their skills and motivations is the main task of opportunity-enhancing practices

(Appelbaum, 2000). The basic assumption regarding the positive link between

opportunity-enhancing predictors and creativity is that when organizational

structure provides wider participation for employees (e.g., horizontal

organization), they are able to regulate their behaviors on creative tasks (Hirst et

al., 2011). First, well-designed tasks (e.g., job autonomy) nurture employees’

problem-solving responsibilities towards creativity (e.g., Oldham & Cummings,

1996; Shalley, Gilson, & Blum, 2009). Second, workers need more support from

organizations (De Stobbeleir, Ashford, & Buyens, 2011; Shalley et al., 2009; Yu

& Frenkel, 2013; Zhou & Oldham, 2001), reflected by organizational climate

and culture (e.g., resources, supports for creativity) (Wang & Rode, 2010). In the

HR literature, this refers to the individuals’ recognition of the attributes of an

organization (e.g., practices, polices and procedure) (Lepak et al., 2006). This

line of research indicates the importance of building a work environment in

which employees have the opportunity to interact and work in organizations,

which includes opportunity-enhancing practices. In addition, relevant

teamworking attributes offer a desirable platform for employees to access to new

ideas and perspectives on creativity (e.g., Hirst, Van Dick, et al., 2009). Finally,

some research drawing upon social network theories addresses the influences of

structural properties, which reflect social relationships between individuals and

organizations or environments (Perry-Smith & Shalley, 2003).

Job/task design. The importance of job design lies in supplying chances for

individuals to use their personal abilities and knowledge towards creative

activities (Oldham & Cummings, 1996). Regarding to job autonomy, research by

Liu, Chen, and Yao (2011) examined the role of autonomy in directly promoting

creativity. Considering the benefits of feedback on creativity (Shalley, 1995),

Zhou (1998) found that employee creativity could be generated by receiving

positive feedback delivered in an informational style. Moreover, other aspects of

work design, such as time/performance pressure, task structure and routinization,

have also been found to influence creativity (Baer & Oldham, 2006; Binnewies

& Wörnlein, 2011; Choi et al., 2009; Eisenberger & Aselage, 2009; Ohly & Fritz,

2010; Sagiv, Arieli, Goldenberg, & Goldschmidt, 2010; Shalley et al., 2009;

Tierney & Farmer, 2002).

Organizational climate and culture. A considerable number of studies have

made substantial progress in understanding how organizational climate and

Page 38: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 2

38

culture, especially the organizational supports that guarantee employees’

perceptions of organizational assistance and encouragement, exert influences on

employees’ creativity (De Stobbeleir et al., 2011; Shin & Zhou, 2003). For

example, De Stobbeleir et al. (2011) tested the perception that organizational

support for creativity had a positive effect on creativity.

Teamworking. Since creativity requires a platform to exchange and obtain

information (Shalley, 1995), individual creativity also benefitted from teamwork,

reflected as presence of coworker (behaviors), information sharing/exchange,

team/organizational diversity, and team learning behaviors (Alge et al., 2006;

Choi et al., 2009; Gong et al., 2012; Gong et al., 2013; Hirst, Van Knippenberg,

et al., 2009; Liao et al., 2010; Madjar et al., 2011; Richter et al., 2012; Shalley,

1995; Shalley & Perry-Smith, 2001; Shung J Shin, Kim, Lee, & Bian, 2012;

Zhou, 2003). For example, Khazanchi and Masterson (2011) found a positive

association between information sharing and creativity. Some research has also

provided evidence that can be used to understand the role of coworkers, which

acts as modeling and provides new sources of information to aid creativity. For

example, the study by Zhou (2003) revealed the positive relation between

coworkers’ external network and employee creativity.

Social network. Social network indicates an individual’s access and control of

social networks in and out of organizations (Burt, Kilduff, & Tasselli, 2013).

The context of social relationships is explained as the influence of the

relationships between employees and their surroundings on creative outcomes

(Perry-Smith & Shalley, 2003). This attribute reflects organizational

opportunities for employees’ task engagement (Appelbaum, 2000). Specifically,

in the creativity field, network ties and network structure and position are major

dimensions (for a review, see Perry-Smith & Shalley, 2003). For example, Sosa

(2011) examined network interactions and structures to demonstrate that the

strength of a dyadic relationship (to the extent that it captures the work-related

closeness of the interacting actors) positively stimulated creativity.

2.4 New Typology of Interactions

As we mentioned in the introduction, creativity scholars agree on the interactions

predicting employee creativity, but less studies exist addressing how the

different types of interactions may predict the different levels of creative

performance (Zhou & Hoever, 2014). The lack of clarity with respect to this

research issue substantially limits our understanding of certain mixed findings in

Page 39: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 2

39

creativity research, and it fails to guide practitioners in effectively managing

employee creativity towards a higher and even the highest level. For example,

Wang and Rode (2010) found that only when employees’ identification with

leaders, transformational leadership, and innovation climate are all high, will

creativity significantly reach the highest level. To clarify these essential

problems, our analysis in this section, which is based on the above

categorizations of creativity predictors, includes a new framework to display the

variety of interactions in the creativity literature. Scholars in the AMO theory

research field have suggested two main configurations of bundles of practices

towards (creative) performance—the combination model, and the multiplicative

model (Blumberg & Pringle, 1982; Bos-Nehles et al., 2013; Cummings &

Schwab, 1973). In other words, the practices are interdependently aligned to

generate performance in the two main models. Following this line of research,

we provide a new framework including the two main models to explain how the

ability, motivation, and opportunity predictors interact in different manners to

predict employee creativity. Notably, given our basic assumption that contextual

factors moderate the relationship between personal factors and creativity, the

influences of ability predictors on creativity can be accentuated by motivational

and opportunity practices separately and jointly. Figure 2.1 represents the

framework that includes the two main interactive models.

2.4.1 The Combination Model

The combination model, referring to P = f [A(1+M+O)], suggests that ability is a

prerequisite for performance and that motivation and opportunity can separately

help in the presence of sufficient ability (Bos-Nehles et al., 2013). That is, the

motivation- or opportunity-oriented creativity predictors accentuate the effects of

ability-oriented predictors on creative performance. Acknowledging that

employees with abilities (e.g., creative personality, and positive mood) can

effectively contribute to creative performance, organizations should make

appropriate use of employees’ personal gifts by displaying two dimensions of

practices. The first is motivation-enhancing predictors, which motivate

employees and may generate additive effects to employee creativity, while the

second is opportunity practices, which provide opportunities to engage in

creative endeavors and may facilitate employees incorporating their skills and

abilities. Thus, in this section, we organize creativity research to propose two

types of combination models to reflect the interactive influences in creativity

literature—interactive effects of ability and motivation (A × M) and of ability

Page 40: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 2

40

and opportunity (A × O) (depicted as Combination Model (a) and (b) in Figure

2.1).

Figure 2. 1 Conceptual Framework of Interactions in Creativity Literature

P = f (A × M). Tierney et al. (1999) studied the relation between cognitive style

and employee creativity by considering the moderating role of LMX. Cognitive

adaptors performed more creatively when they were working within a high-

quality LMX dyad rather than a low-quality dyad. Moreover, Qu, Janssen, and

Shi (2015) found an interactive relation between relational identity and leader

creativity expectations, showing that the employee identification would yield a

significant increase of creativity when leaders provided expectations of creativity.

Looking at the effects of mood, scholars (George & Zhou, 2002); George and

Zhou (2007) found that a negative mood was significantly and positively

associated with creativity when perceived recognition and rewards for creative

performance and clarity of feelings were high (George & Zhou, 2002) or when

Page 41: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 2

41

interactional justice or trust relationships were high (George & Zhou, 2007).

Some studies have explored the associations between other ability-enhancing

preditors and creativity. Chen, Shih, and Yeh (2011) stated that the positive

influence of individual initiative and skill variety on creativity were stronger

when employees were provided with adequate creative resources. In three

studies, Aleksic, Cerne, Dysvik, and Skerlavaj (2016) found that clear goals

positively moderated the relation between personal preference for creativity and

creativity.

P = f (A × O). Considerable research has examined the effect of work

characteristics (i.e., opportunity-enhancing predictors) on the relations between

personality, cognitions and creativity (e.g., Raja & Johns, 2010; Sagiv et al.,

2010). For example, Zhou & Oldham (2001) focused on creative personality

interactions with expected developmental assessment strategies and found that

individuals with creative personalities were more creative when they expected a

self-administered assessment (i.e., an opportunity to make an assessment of their

own work). To establish the underlying relation between goal orientation and

creativity, Hirst and colleagues conducted two studies to display the moderation

of different opportunity-enhancing predictors (Hirst et al., 2011; Hirst, Van

Knippenberg, et al., 2009). They found that employees’ learning orientation

contributed to higher levels of creativity when team learning behavior was high

(Hirst, Van Knippenberg, et al., 2009) and when centralization was low (Hirst et

al., 2011). Regarding this identity, Yoshida, Sendjaya, Hirst, and Cooper (2014)

found a positive moderation effect of organizational innovative climate on

employees’ identification and creativity. Researchers provided evidence

addressing the way that the task attributes activate the linkage between mood

and creativity (e.g., Kaufmann & Vosburg, 2002). For example, Binnewies and

Wörnlein (2011) examined the effect of job control, showing that high level of

job control amplified the desirable influence of positive affect on creativity. A

few studies examined the effects of voice behaviors on creativity and found that

the positive effect of employees’ voice behavior on creativity was stronger when

they worked in a more innovative climate (Chen & Hou, 2016).

This set of studies reflects the different functions of motivation- and

opportunity-oriented factors in activating the relationships between ability-

oriented predictors and employee creativity. Generally, the results of creativity

seem to be more substantial when motivation- or opportunity-enhancing

practices are involved in the central influences of ability-enhancing practices on

creativity. Take identification as an example. Two studies from Qu et al. (2015)

Page 42: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 2

42

and Yoshida et al. (2014) examined the moderating effects of leader creativity

expectations and support for innovation, respectively. Their findings showed the

significant enhancement of motivation- and opportunity-oriented variables with

more variance in creativity explained by the variables of leader creativity

expectations (R2 = .15) and support for innovation (Pseudo R

2 = .05). Moreover,

unlike personality attributes with stable natures, some psychological

characteristics (e.g., cognitive styles, and affects) among ability-oriented factors

are more subject to variation. Thus, the benefits of their potential positive

influences on creativity should be contingent upon augmented or substituted

effects from motivation- or opportunity-oriented practices. This idea aligns with

the contextual perspective of mood-creativity relations (Davis, 2009), which

states that the creativity advantages of positive or negative moods should be

considered in the task environment where designing tasks varies in time plans

and information orientations.

2.4.2 The Multiplicative Model

Since ability, motivation, and opportunity predictors are likely to codetermine

(creative) performance, scholars used a multiplicative model to analyze how the

three dimensions of predictors jointly contribute to predicting the highest level

of creativity. Specifically, the multiplicative model illustrates the traditional

argument in the AMO theory that ability, motivation and opportunity operate

together in a complementary or interactive manner: P = f (A×M×O) (Guest et al.,

2004; Huselid, 1995). This could include exerting a larger effect or

compensating for disadvantageous influences of other factors. Considering the

enhancements of several motivation and opportunity predictors separately on the

above ability-creativity relation (i.e., the combination model), the multiplicative

model emphasizes the awareness of a joint effect of predictors from the ability,

motivation and opportunity dimensions simultaneously. The multiplicative

model provides a more comprehensive picture of interplay in creativity because

scholars found that performance would reach its highest level when

organizations invested simultaneously in enhancing employees’ ability,

motivation, and opportunity. Considering the significance of, but mixed results

on, how to boost employee creativity to the highest level (for a review, see

Anderson et al., 2014), the multiplicative model provides a useful and practical

perspective for creativity scholars to consider the three factors simultaneously

with each factor supporting the other two and operating as synergistic bundles

towards the highest level of creativity (Kim et al., 2015). Among the selected

Page 43: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 2

43

articles, moderation accounts for the three-way interactions. This model is

depicted as Multiplicative Model in Figure 2.1.

Baer, Oldham, and Cummings (2003) found that extrinsic rewards, together with

working on complex jobs, exerted significant positive moderation effects in

stimulating employees to produce creativity using an adaptive cognitive style.

Kim et al. (2010) studied the potential positive role of a proactive personality

and demonstrated that a significantly high level of creativity occurred when

proactive employees received supervisor support for creativity and a high job

creativity requirement.

Considering the advantages of personal motivation in predicting creative

performance, some studies examined the conditions under which these

motivations could be the most explanatory for employee creativity (e.g., Shalley

et al., 2009; Zhou et al., 2012). For example, Zhou (2003) examined the joint

effect of supervisor developmental feedback and the presence of creative

coworkers on the creative personality-creativity association. Conducting two

studies confirmed that employees with less creative personalities may exhibit

creativity when creative coworkers were present and supervisors provided

developmental feedback. Moreover, De Clercq, Mohammad Rahman, and

Belausteguigoitia (2015) found that the joint effects of learning orientation, high

goal congruence, and low task conflict would contribute to the highest level of

creativity.

With regard to the multiplicative effects, including other aspects of ability-

enhancing predictors, Zhang and Zhou (2014) conducted two studies on an

interaction between uncertainty avoidance, trust, and empowering leadership that

affected creativity such that the highest creativity could be achieved when the

employees had high levels of uncertainty avoidance, trusted their supervisors,

and had leaders who displayed empowering leadership. In addition, Zhou, Shin,

and Cannella Jr (2008) proposed a three-way interaction among employees’

perception, supervisor support for creativity, and access to resources that

demonstrated that opportunity perception had the strongest positive relationship

with their self-perceived creativity when supervisor support for creativity and

access to resources were both high.

The empirical evidence seems to suggest that the multiplicative model of

interactions predicts the highest level of employee creativity. For example, since

researchers have found that openness to experiences is important to creativity,

studies have provided more evidence that openness can be activated by

Page 44: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 2

44

motivation- and opportunity-enhancing practices simultaneously. A study by

George and Zhou (2001) showed that openness to experience would result in

high levels of creative behavior if feedback valences were positive and job

holders were presented with a heuristic task that allowed them to be creative for

jobs with unclear ends (changed R2 = .04) and jobs with unclear means (changed

R2 = .04). Moreover, the findings for some potential negative ability-oriented

variables may even predict creativity when suitable motivation and opportunity

practices are properly combined. Baer et al. (2003) explored the interaction

between personal cognitive styles, rewards, and job complexity and how they

together affected differences in creativity. Employees with adaptive cognition

exhibited higher creativity when they worked on simple jobs and received

increased rewards. The results highlight that creative potentials are not uniform

and could be affected by contextual motivations as well as opportunity benefits.

Together with the findings in the combination model (e.g., George and Zhou,

2007), some evidence from potential negative predictors, such as rewards, may

also act as an enhancement for generating creative outcomes in specific

circumstances. One of the prominent preconditions is the task characteristics that

provide employee benefits on a good “person-job match” (Byron & Khazanchi,

2012).

Taken together, the arguments of the two main interactions above are highly

consistent with the basic assumption in the AMO theory that ability, motivation

and opportunity practices are synergistic bundles supporting performance (e.g.,

Appelbaum, 2000; Bos-Nehles et al., 2013). That is, as different operating

functions, the three dimensions of the creativity predictors (i.e., ability-,

motivation-, and opportunity-enhancing creativity factors) interact with each

other—one of them supports the other two. For example, the combination model

generates a higher level of creativity than the main effects of ability predictors

on creativity, and the multiplicative model contributes the highest level of

creativity. The extent to which ability-oriented predictors facilitate creative

performance depends on the bundles of motivation- and opportunity-oriented

factors, as weakness in any of the three may reduce creativity. A specific

configuration (i.e., motivation- and opportunity-enhancing variables together

bring out the creative potential of the ability-enhancing variables to achieve the

highest level of creativity) indicates that “Changing one leg without careful

consideration of the other two is typically a mistake” (Gerhart, 2007, p 325).

Page 45: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 2

45

2.5 Discussion

Given the importance of the undeveloped interactional perspective in creativity,

we think that it is time to sketch a comprehensive picture of creativity at the

individual level. Drawing on the AMO theory, we provide a refinement of the

categorization of creativity predictors into three dimensions (i.e., ability-,

motivation- and opportunity-enhancing practices). Based on the basic

assumption that person-creativity relations can be augmented by contexts using

different functions, we present two main models of interactions (i.e., a

combination model, and a multiplicative model). Our conceptualization helps

enrich the limited interactional research by shedding light on the various

functions of creativity predictors and extending the understanding of the

different types of interactions in the creativity literature. Our hope is that our

efforts will help move research on this complex interactional perspective in new

and exciting directions as well as offer practical implementations.

Multiple contextual factors exist in organizations, and they function differently

when predicting employee creativity. Therefore, reviewing and identifying these

variables is a worthy focus of our research attention and effort before clarifying

their interactions with personal factors, which helps academicians, practitioners

and researchers understand the influences of predictors in detail. Specifically,

motivation-oriented factors act as motivational stimulation that externally boosts

employees’ utilization of their abilities, skills and personal attributes in order to

engage in creative endeavors. This idea complements the basic motivational

mechanism indicating that contextual factors stimulate employees’ internal

motivations to produce creativity (Amabile, 1993; Liu et al., 2016) by explaining

that the motivational factors in organizations enable the expression of ability-

oriented facilitators. In the same vein, opportunity-oriented factors that

emphasize providing avenues for employees’ creative expression highlight the

adequate opportunities to perform creatively. Theoretically, when organizational

inputs (e.g., providing opportunities) target employees’ personal development,

employees are likely to reciprocate in terms of desirable outcomes, such as

engaging in creative endeavors while utilizing personal advantages (Gouldner,

1960; Jiang et al., 2012).

By framing the two main models of interactions in creativity literature, we

structure the potential bundles of ability-, motivation-, and opportunity-

enhancing predictors. This new perspective is partly consistent with the

extensive literature on person-environment fit theory, which argues that

Page 46: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 2

46

individuals’ performance and behaviors are the result of the adjustment between

employees and their work environments (Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman, &

Johnson, 2005; van Knippenberg & Hirst, 2015). Specifically, the compatibility

between personal and environmental attributes suggests that contextual

components of creativity with different effects (i.e., motivational or opportunity

providing) may activate employees who can adapt themselves to creative

achievements. Meanwhile, the results of our study align with the bundle

perspective in the AMO theory indicating that the optimal choice of HRM

practices produces various results. As ability practices are considered to exert a

major positive effect on creativity, motivation and opportunity practices

separately accentuate creativity to a higher level and jointly to the highest level.

Clearly, these bundling or synergy effects of interplay provide explanations to

scholars who argue that the interactional influences of personal-contextual

characteristics on creativity are contingent on other contextual facilitators

(Shalley & Gilson, 2004); that is, more is better for mutually reinforcing effects.

As we mentioned early in this research, we take an explicitly managerial

perspective to assume that HRM practices are highly correlated with creativity

predictors. Thus, our results also provide some practical contributions to

organizations managing employee creativity. First, the three HRM dimensions

(i.e., ability-, motivation, and opportunity-oriented practices) are definitely

related to employee creative performance. This suggests that organizations

should provide creativity-facilitative practices along the three dimensions. For

example, organizations need to focus on selecting candidates with the proper

personal characteristics (e.g., creative personalities and positive psychological

attributes) and on designing innovative tasks. Second, the interactional approach

that favors joint practices for the HRM department highlights that our choice of

bundles of practices should include more from different functions and consider

the principle of matching. For example, the effectiveness of specific HRM

practices for employees with innovative cognitive styles indicates that

organizations should provide nonrewarded and innovative tasks instead of

extrinsic rewards and simple jobs. Third, given that some motivation- and

opportunity-enhancing practices are displayed by leaders and teams,

organizations should provide training for leaders and employees. Practically, the

training for managers should contain setting goals, building trust and justice, and

supporting employees’ creativity; for employees, it should contain sharing

knowledge and information and developing leaning behaviors.

Page 47: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 2

47

Some limitations exist in this research. First, some studies have investigated

interactions that are primarily focused on two motivation- or opportunity-

enhancing predictors moderating the ability-creativity link (e.g., Hirst, Van

Knippenberg, et al., 2009; Richter et al., 2012), which generated a higher level

of creativity. These examinations are not in opposition to our conceptual

framework, as they also considered the distinct roles and functions of

motivational or opportunity factors. Future work will need to follow our

conceptualizations to create a comparison between these studies to deepen our

knowledge concerning these complex and various interactions. Second, our work

includes fewer interactions involving negative creative results (e.g., Hirst et al.,

2011). For example, in George and Zhou’s (2002) study, a positive mood was

found to be negatively related to creative performance when perceived

recognition and rewards for creative performance and clarity of feelings were

both high. In spite of our basic argument that favors the profitable interactions of

predictors fostering creative results, it is valuable for future research to consider

the dark side of predictors, especially the dark inside of organizational practices

(Linstead, Maréchal, & Griffin, 2014). For example, the positive potential

predictors may jointly result in a too-much-of-a-good-thing effect on creativity

(Holten & Bøllingtoft, 2015). Third, some of the example articles above are

organized across different levels of analysis, yet we pointed less to the recent

growing research focused on a multilevel approach (e.g., Hirst, Van

Knippenberg, et al., 2009). Although our framework can be applied to multilevel

or cross-level studies, it would be beneficial for future research to understand

how the various influences of motivation- and opportunity-oriented variables

from different levels interact with individual-level ability-oriented variables to

allow employees to perform more creatively.

Page 48: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 2

48

Page 49: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 3

49

Chapter 3 Extending the Understanding of the

Relationship Between Psychological Capital

and Employee Creativity: Examining the

Effects of Supervisor Support for Creativity

and Job Characteristics3

Abstract

Although the positive effect of psychological capital (PsyCap) on employee

performance is well documented, the conditions under which PsyCap exerts the

most influence on creativity are not well understood, especially in the Chinese

culture. Complementing and extending prior studies, we theorize and examine

how two critical contextual moderators (supervisor support for creativity [SSC]

and job characteristics) effectively activate PsyCap associated with workplace

creativity. Drawing on an interactional perspective, we use trait activation theory

to examine the effects of SSC and job characteristics on the relationship between

PsyCap and individual creativity. Through rigorous testing of hypotheses (N =

356 individuals from multiple industries in China), our results demonstrate that

both SSC and job characteristics positively moderate the PsyCap-creativity

relationship. Additional analyses revealed that PsyCap is most effective at

enhancing creativity when both SSC and job characteristics are high.

Implications of these findings for theory, future research and practice are

discussed.

Keywords: PsyCap, creativity, job characteristics, supervisor support for

creativity

This chapter is based on: Wenjing Cai, Evgenia I. Lysova, Bart A.G. Bossink &

Svetlana N. Khapova. Extending the Understanding of the Relationship Between

Psychological Capital and Employee Creativity: Examining the Effects of

Supervisor Support for Creativity and Job Characteristics. Creativity and

Innovation Management: Revise and Resubmit.

Page 50: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 3

50

3.1 Introduction

Employee creativity, defined as the generation of novel and useful ideas,

products and processes (Amabile, 1996; Woodman, Sawyer, & Griffin, 1993;

Zhou & Hoever, 2014) has become critical to organizational performance and

competitiveness (Mumford & Hunter, 2005). Whereas the extant research has

examined a variety of factors that predict employee creativity in organizations

(Shalley, Zhou, & Oldham, 2004; Zhou & Hoever, 2014), recent studies have

signaled that employees’ psychological capital, hereafter PsyCap, has a strong

potential to predict employee creativity (Avey, Richmond, & Nixon, 2012;

Sweetman, Luthans, Avey, & Luthans, 2011). PsyCap refers to an individual’s

positive psychological state of development in terms of using his/her

motivational and cognitive resources to achieve a high level of performance (e.g.,

Luthans, Avolio, Avey, & Norman, 2007). Consistent with past research

regarding motivational mechanisms in the creativity literature (e.g., Amabile,

1996; Zhou & Shalley, 2011), burgeoning research regarding the linkage

between PsyCap and creativity deepens our understanding of how agentic

psychological resources predict employee creativity (Avey et al., 2012). Recent

studies have reconfirmed the link between PsyCap and employee creativity

(Avey et al., 2012; Rego, Sousa, & Marques, 2012; Sweetman et al., 2011).

However, this area is far from well understood in the research (e.g., Luthans,

Avey, Clapp-Smith, & Li, 2008). Specifically, few studies have addressed a

critical question regarding the conditions under which this relationship is

possible. We consider this an important limitation of the extant studies, given the

years of creativity research that have called for deep investigations to unpack the

contextual influences on how individuals exhibit their psychological attributes to

facilitate creativity (e.g., Shalley et al., 2004; Zhou & Hoever, 2014),

particularly considering the cultural contexts in China (Anderson, Potočnik, &

Zhou, 2014).

This paper aims to address this limitation. Specifically, building on trait

activation theory (Tett and Burnett, 2003), we examine how desired

organizational factors—such as supervisor support for creativity, hereafter SSC,

and job characteristics—can influence the relationship between PsyCap and

creativity. That is, personal traits are expressed as responses to trait-relevant

situational cues (Tett & Guterman, 2000), and employees seek out and are

satisfied with tasks, people, and job characteristics that provide them with

opportunities for expressing an array of personality traits (Tett & Burnett, 2003).

This interactional approach is consistent with the perspective of how personal-

Page 51: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 3

51

contextual predictors interact with each other to enhance or inhibit creativity

(Zhou & Hoever, 2014). In particular, previous research has suggested a

comprehensive picture of employee (creative) performance, including all the

characteristics of the workers, the working environment, and the job (c.f. Steers

& Porter, 1991). For example, Shalley and coauthors (2009) found that growth

need strength led to creativity when two situational factors—support contexts

and job complexity—were high. Thus, we explore how SSC (an environmental

factor) and job characteristics moderate PsyCap’s influence on creativity. Figure

3.1 depicts our research model.

Figure 3. 1 The Research Model

Several studies support our interest in the effects of SSC and job characteristics

on the PsyCap-creativity relationship. It is reasonable to expect SSC to exert

influence in a personal relationships-oriented society (e.g., China) because

Chinese employees who are loyal to their immediate supervisor are accustomed

to having a strong tie with him/her (Chen, Tsui, & Farh, 2002; Cheng, Jiang,

Cheng, Riley, & Jen, 2015). Indeed, research indicates that SSC can encourage

employees to take an active role in their work and to act creatively (Kim, Hon, &

Lee, 2010; Madjar, Oldham, & Pratt, 2002) because SSC highlights the value of

creativity (Tierney & Farmer, 2004) and employees’ psychological attributes

regarding creativity (Carmeli & Schaubroeck, 2007). Although SSC has been

acknowledged as a predictor of creativity, we lack a comprehensive

understanding of how it may moderate the predictor-creativity relationship

(Carmeli, Reiter-Palmon, & Ziv, 2010; Tierney, Farmer, & Graen, 1999). For

Page 52: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 3

52

example, recent studies have extended the earlier research to suggest that the

more SSC subordinates receive, the more likely it is that their psychological

resources will lead to creativity (Kim et al., 2010). In essence, we suggest that

SSC may facilitate PsyCap’s contribution to creativity. Moreover, although past

research highlighted the moderating effects of job characteristics on employee

outcomes (Spector & Jex, 1991), the majority of the creativity literature has

focused on individual-level dimensions of job characteristics (e.g., autonomy)

without considering all the dimensions (e.g., Wang & Cheng, 2010). Indeed, job

characteristics, as an overall construct, can trigger greater motivation for

creativity among employees (Hackman & Oldham, 1976) because well-designed

jobs enable employees to use their resources to pursue various creative ideas

(Shalley & Gilson, 2004). However, the effects of job characteristics can be

different depending on employees’ personal characteristics (Barrick, Mount, &

Li, 2013; Hackman & Oldham, 1975), such as stronger effects for individuals

with positive traits (Shalley & Gilson, 2004). Well-designed jobs also encourage

greater creativity by exerting influence on workplace motivation and excitement

(Chang, Jia, Takeuchi, & Cai, 2014; Shalley, Gilson, & Blum, 2009; Tierney &

Farmer, 2004). Therefore, we expect SSC and job characteristics to moderate the

PsyCap-creativity relationship.

This paper makes several important contributions. First, focusing on SSC and

job characteristics in the PsyCap-creativity association, we extend the literature

addressing the conditions under which employees are most creative (Newman,

Ucbasaran, Zhu, & Hirst, 2014). We also respond to the calls for more

interactional investigations of individual creativity (Zhou & Hoever, 2014).

Additionally, we test our hypotheses with a Chinese sample, in which the roles

of SSC and job characteristics are highly determinant of employee behaviors

(e.g., Chen et al., 2002; Yan, Peng, & Francesco, 2011). This approach allows us

to expand the understanding of creativity in an international context (Shalley et

al., 2004; Zhang & Bartol, 2010) by examining whether predictors observed in

the West (PsyCap, SSC, and job characteristics) exert a similar influence on

creativity in China.

3.2 Theoretical Background

3.2.1 PsyCap and Creativity

PsyCap represents individuals’ positive psychological state (Luthans et al.,

2007a; Luthan, Avey, Avolio, Norman, & Combs, 2006). This personal

Page 53: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 3

53

characteristic (Luthans, et al., 2007a) includes four main aspects: self-efficacy

(refers to individuals’ confidence in successfully mobilizing their efforts to

generate desired outcomes), hope (refers to individuals’ motivations and

pathways to accomplish their tasks), optimism (refers to individuals’ expectancy

and positive attribution towards positive outcomes) and resilience (refers to

individuals’ abilities to bounce back from risks or failures and to adapt to

dynamics and success) (Luthans et al., 2007a; Luthans, Youssef, & Avolio, 2007;

Newman et al., 2014). PsyCap is positively associated with creativity (Huang &

Luthans, 2015; Rego et al., 2012; Sweetman et al., 2011). Specifically, self-

efficacious people have the ability to exploit resources to achieve certain goals

(Luthans et al., 2006), and challenges are likely to stimulate these individuals to

produce creative ideas (Rego et al., 2012). In turn, employees with hope attempt

alternative methods to pursue creative goals and engage in creative endeavors

(Sweetman et al., 2011). When facing difficulties, optimistic people tend to take

advantage of opportunities while experiencing positive emotions (Luthans, et al.,

2007a). Finally, adversities are inevitable in creative processes, but resilience

ensures individuals’ psychological safety in overcoming challenges (Luthans,

Luthans, & Luthans, 2004). Consequently, we follow the existing research and

suggest that a core construct of PsyCap is positively related to employee

creativity (Rego et al., 2012; Sweetman et al., 2011).

Although the extant literature has demonstrated a positive relationship between

PsyCap and employee creativity (Rego et al., 2012; Sweetman et al., 2011), how

various job- and management-related factors influence this relationship remains

unclear (Newman et al., 2014). Drawing on trait activation theory (Tett &

Burnett, 2003; Tett & Guterman, 2000), we suggest that it is important to

explore the role of environmental predictors—SSC and job characteristics—in

activating individual attributes (e.g., PsyCap) towards enhancing or inhibiting

creativity. Trait activation theory suggests that how personal attributes impact

performance may be contingent on situational cues (Tett & Burnett, 2003),

which is consistent with person-context interactions in creativity research. For

example, Hirst, Van Knippenberg and Zhou (2009) found that team learning

behavior activates the relation between individuals’ goal orientation and

creativity. Additionally, the relevance of a situation to personal attributes may

alter the influence of personal characteristics on outcomes (Tett & Burnett,

2003). Specifically, research demonstrates that positive organizational factors

(e.g., supportive context) strengthen the relation between individual

characteristics and creativity (Shalley et al., 2009; Zhou, Hirst, & Shipton, 2012;

Zhou & Hoever, 2014). These moderators are trait-relevant situational cues that

Page 54: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 3

54

are favorable to creativity (Tett & Burnett, 2003). Finally, Tett et al. (2000; 2003)

called for research regarding the combined effects of various contextual factors

on the associations between personal factors and performance. Human resources

management departments often employ several practices simultaneously; thus,

the integrated effects of these practices may yield different outcomes.

Consequently, in the following section, we examine the joint moderating effects

of SSC and job characteristics on the association between PsyCap and creativity.

3.2.2 Moderating Role of SSC

As an interpersonal relationship, SSC refers to the extent to which supervisors

encourage, care for and provide subordinates with assistance to generate creative

outcomes (Madjar et al., 2002) and improve employee creativity (Amabile,

1996). Research has demonstrated that SSC provides encouragement and

assistance to employees (Madjar et al., 2002; Tierney & Farmer, 2004) to

increase initiative, such as idea generation (Oldham & Cummings, 1996). SSC

also establishes the expectation that creativity is highly valued (Ohly, Sonnentag,

& Pluntke, 2006) such that subordinates realizing the importance of creativity

will engage in creative endeavors (Kim et al., 2010). Additionally, SSC is

beneficial for PsyCap development (Avey, 2014). SSC contributes to employees’

self-efficacy by reinforcing training and encouraging success, increases

employees’ hope by setting goals and helping employees meet goals, develops

optimism through positive expectations from goal setting, and provides job

resources and opportunities for growth and recovery from mistakes to shape

resiliency.

Based on the interactive effects of leaders’ and employees’ personal

characteristics on creativity (e.g., Tierney et al., 1999), we suggest that SSC is a

moderator that works with PsyCap to foster creativity by motivating employees

to direct their PsyCap towards creativity. Specifically, individuals’ psychological

attributes (e.g., PsyCap) determine how they respond to work environments

(Shalley et al., 2009). Thus, high PsyCap employees not only have a perception

that utilizing positive psychological resources to attain creative results is

favorable but also benefit from supervisors’ support to realize creative

achievements with fewer risks and greater comfort (Shin, Kim, Lee, & Bian,

2012). Consequently, PsyCap influences achievement, growth initiates creative

engagement, and SSC heightens this positive association as a situational

moderator (e.g., Shalley & Gilson, 2004). Specifically, when people with high

PsyCap perceive high SSC, they may feel encouraged and be less afraid of

failure (Paterson, Luthans, & Jeung, 2014); thus, they may be more open to

Page 55: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 3

55

generating new ideas (To, Fisher, Ashkanasy, & Rowe, 2012). Therefore,

subordinates’ PsyCap for creative work can be maximized by using SSC to

encourage the subordinates’ cognitive appraisal of a situation (Glazer, 2006)

towards creativity. Conversely, when high PsyCap subordinates perceive low

SSC, they fail to experience an atmosphere of safety (Shalley & Gilson, 2004);

hence, they engage less in creativity. Thus, we hypothesize:

Hypothesis 1. SSC moderates the relationship between PsyCap and creativity

such that the relationship between PsyCap and creativity is stronger when SSC is

higher.

3.2.3 Moderating Role of Job Characteristics

Hackham and Oldham (1975) suggested a Job Characteristic Model that reflects

psychological influences on creativity (Oldham & Cummings, 1996). It contains

five job-relevant dimensions: skill variety (refers to the degree of knowledge and

skills that employees need to accomplish tasks), autonomy (refers to the freedom

that employees have in choosing the methods, processes and resources to

perform their work), identity (refers to the extent to which employees can

complete their entire task), significance (refers to the importance of the task for

others), and feedback (refers to employees receiving information related to their

work performance). Job characteristics have motivational potential (Hackman &

Oldham, 1976; Shalley & Gilson, 2004) to influence creativity by impacting

psychological states (e.g., Oldham & Cummings, 1996). Specifically, according

to person-situation interactional theory, individuals seek out situations on the

basis of their personal predispositions (Diener, Larsen, & Emmons, 1984), and

highly well-designed jobs (e.g., autonomy) are perceived to promote the

development of PsyCap (Avey, 2014). Thus, building on past studies (Scott &

Bruce, 1994), we expect that the PsyCap-creativity relationship is contingent on

job characteristics.

As an important component of creativity (Amabile, 1996), skill variety

effectively increases personal motivation and engagement (Husmphrey,

Nahrgang, & Morgeson, 2007). The experience of applying skills to problems

enables employees to recombine knowledge to generate and implement new

ideas (Noefer, Stegmaier, Molter, & Sonntag, 2009). When employees perceive

their work as high in task significance, they may build a deep understanding of

the impact and value of their job (Grant, 2008). Consequently, they endeavor to

produce creative results (Oldham & Cummings, 1996). For example, task

significance requires utilizing motivations and cognitions (Humphrey et al.,

Page 56: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 3

56

2007), which signifies to the workplace that employing PsyCap in creative

actions is worthwhile. Autonomy is a strong predictor of creativity (Liu, Chen, &

Yao, 2011; Zhou, 1998) because it offers freedom from control (Deci, Connell,

& Ryan, 1989) and internalizes the enactment of creative behaviors (Gagné &

Deci, 2005). Because PsyCap reinforces employees’ motivated efforts and

perseverance (Luthans et al., 2007b), job autonomy allows them to fulfill the

process of PsyCap facilitating creativity. By increasing feelings of completion

and responsibility, task identity increases the meaningfulness of work (Griffin,

Welsh, & Moorhead, 1981), which is associated with creativity (Oldham &

Cummings, 1996; Shalley et al., 2004). Employees who perceive high task

identity can apply their positive psychological resources towards creative

activities (Loher, Noe, Moeller, & Fitzgerald, 1985). Finally, through task

feedback, employees can monitor their activities and make changes and

improvements (Zhou, 1998) by responding to work situations. In this manner,

feedback reinforces employees’ utilization of their motivation and positive

PsyCap. Thus, we hypothesize:

Hypothesis 2. Job characteristics moderate the relationship between PsyCap and

creativity such that the relationship between PsyCap and creativity is stronger

when job characteristics (autonomy, significance, identity, skill variety, and

feedback) are higher.

3.2.4 Three-way Interaction Effects on Creativity

SSC and job characteristics both increase PsyCap and creativity and moderate

the associations between PsyCap and work-related outcomes. However, no

research has examined their joint influence, especially on the PsyCap-creativity

relation. It is necessary to consider their combined influence because existing

studies have found that the perceptions that employees receive from contextual

factors (e.g., job characteristics) may be affected by the relationships they have

(e.g., leader supervision) (Salancik & Pfeffer, 1978). For example, Smircich and

Morgan (1982) found that leader behaviors influenced workplace appraisal of

their (subordinates’) work. Therefore, we propose that employee creativity is a

function of multiple factors, including PsyCap, SSC, and job characteristics.

More specifically, the combined effects of desired individual and different

desired contextual predictors result in enhanced creativity (Zhou & Heover,

2014). For example, if a leader provides support for subordinates’ creative

thoughts, employees with a high level of PsyCap who prefer growth, challenge

and success may perceive that their efforts to be creative are valued and worthy;

Page 57: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 3

57

thus, they may feel confident and encouraged to devote themselves to creativity

and be less afraid to take risks. In this situation, when well-designed work is

assigned to subordinates, they are also likely to feel more self-determination to

accomplish meaningful tasks using creative methods through skill utilization. By

contrast, when people with high PsyCap pursue creative goals and adjust to

adversities, low SSC (e.g., unsupportive supervisors) and an unchallenging task

(e.g., insignificant, fewer skills) with less authority may fail to continuously

inspire their psychological response towards creative achievements.

Consequently, we propose a three-way interactive effect on creativity: PsyCap is

more likely to facilitate employee creativity when a supervisor provides support

for creativity and employees are assigned to well-designed jobs. Thus, we

hypothesize:

Hypothesis 3. PsyCap, SSC, and job characteristics interact to affect creativity

such that the highest level of creativity is expected when employee PsyCap, SSC,

and job characteristics are all high.

3.3 Methods

3.3.1 Sample and Procedures

A total of 356 employees from Eastern China who worked for different

organizations (i.e., logistics companies, a design institute, and a training

organization) completed the study questionnaire, which collected demographic

information and included items measuring all the independent and dependent

variables. Before initiating the data collection, we asked the managers and HR

departments of the organizations to confirm that employee creativity is

welcomed. The participants were informed that their responses would be used

for research purposes only and kept strictly confidential. The survey was

translated through the procedure of back-translation (Brislin, 1986). As in many

other studies, the data for the independent and dependent variables came from a

single source. Therefore, we separated the independent and dependent variables

in our questionnaire to control for common method bias (CMB) (Podsakoff,

MacKenzie, Lee, & Podsakoff, 2003).

We distributed 490 questionnaires and received 379 completed surveys (77%

response rate). The final sample included 356 employees who reported the

industry in which they were working. The participants’ average age was 32.5

years. Table 3. 1 presents the demographic data.

Page 58: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 3

58

Table 3. 1 Demographic Statistical Analysis

Variables Value Frequency Percent

Gender Male

Female

158

198

44.4

55.6

Tenure

(years)

< 1

1-3

3-5

5-7

7-15

> 15

47

90

62

61

71

25

13.2

25.3

17.4

17.1

19.9

7.0

Education PhD

Master’s degree

Bachelor’s degree

Associate’s degree

High school/technical school

Middle school

20

103

85

64

63

21

5.6

28.9

23.9

18.0

17.7

5.9

Job type Managerial

Administrative

Technical (e.g., R&D)

Sales & marketing

Other

21

70

104

73

88

5.9

19.7

29.2

20.5

24.7

Industry Public administration

Technology

Transportation

Manufacturing

Education

Information and

communication

27

107

66

55

74

27

7.6

30.1

18.5

15.4

20.8

7.6

Job characteristics. To measure the overall job characteristics construct, we

followed previous research (Piccolo & Colquitt, 2006) and employed a revised

version of the Job Diagnostic Survey (Hackman & Oldham, 1975) that includes

10 items (2[35] = 47.36, p < .001, CFI = .99, RMSEA = .03) from five

dimensions—autonomy, task significance, identity, skill variety, and task

feedback—to assess employees’ perceptions of their work on a 7-point scale

from 1 = “very inaccurate” to 7 = “very accurate” (Idaszak & Drasgow, 1987).

Sample items include the following: “The job requires me to use a number of

complex or high-level skills” (skill variety); “The job provides me the chance to

completely finish the pieces of work I begin” (identity); “This job is one where a

lot of other people can be affected by how well the work gets done” (task

significance); “The job permits me to decide on my own how to go about doing

the work” (autonomy); and “After I finish the job, I know whether I performed

well” (feedback).

Page 59: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 3

59

Self-reported creativity. Consistent with existing research that used self-reported

creativity (e.g., Shalley et al., 2009), we used four items developed in the

Chinese context (Farmer, Tierney, & Kung-Mcintyre, 2003). The employees

assessed their own creativity from 1 = “strongly disagree” to 6 = “strongly

agree”. A sample item is “I try new ideas or methods first”.

Control variables. We controlled for age (in years), gender, education,

organization tenure, job type, and industry. Furthermore, as suggested by Shalley

et al. (2009), we controlled employee’s intrinsic motivation to test whether it

offers an alternative explanation to creativity. We used four items from Guay,

Vallerand and Blanchard (2000) (e.g., “I feel good when doing this activity”),

ranging from 1 = “very inaccurate” to 7 = “very accurate”.

Given that all the data were collected from a single source, we used a single test

to conduct an explanatory factor analysis to identify the potential for CMB

(Harman, 1976). The result—that one factor accounted for 38.79%, which is

below the accepted threshold of 40%—suggests that CMB was unlikely to be a

serious problem in this study.

3.4 Results

We performed confirmatory factor analysis on the four factors (separate factors

for PsyCap, SSC, job characteristics, and creativity) using AMOS to establish

the factors’ discriminant validity. The baseline model with four factors generally

yielded a better fit to the data (2[399] = 622.22, CFI = .96, RMSEA = .04, TLI

= .95, IFI = .96) than the alternative models, which all had poor fit indexes (see

Table 3.2). The results lend further assurance of the robustness of our four-factor

model. Moreover, we tested another alternative model that proposed that

creativity leads to PsyCap. However, this model exhibited a poor data fit (2[104]

= 477.83, CFI = .87, RMSEA = .10, TLI = .85, IFI = .87), which rules out viable

alternative explanations for our hypothesized model of PsyCap generating

creativity.

The means, standard deviation, and correlations of all the measures are presented

in Table 3.3. To test the hypotheses, we used hierarchical multiple regression

with creativity as the dependent variable, and the predictor variables were

entered in the following steps: (1) the control variables, (2) the three main effects

(PsyCap, SSC, and job characteristics), (3) the two-way interactions, and (4) the

three-way interactions. The variables were mean-centered to calculate the

Page 60: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 3

60

components of the interaction terms (Aiken, West, & Reno, 1991). Table 3.4

summarizes the results.

Although we did not hypothesize main effects, PsyCap was positively related to

creativity ( = .18, p < .05, △R2 = .09) in Step 2. To test Hypotheses 1 and 2,

which concerned SSC and job characteristics as moderators, we computed the

product terms for the variables in our two-way interactions and entered them into

the regression in Step 3 (PsyCap × SSC, PsyCap × job characteristics). The

results revealed that the interaction terms of SSC and job characteristics were

both positive and significant (both = .17, p < .01 and p < .05, respectively,

△R2 = .04) (see Figure 3.2). Therefore, Hypotheses 1 and 2 were supported.

Hypothesis 3 predicted a three-way interaction among PsyCap, SSC, and job

characteristics wherein creativity is highest when all three variables are high. We

entered PsyCap, SSC, and job characteristics into the model in Step 4. Table 3.3

indicates that the three-way interaction was significant ( = .13, p < .01, △R2

= .01). We also plotted the three-way interaction in Figure 3.3. Simple slope

tests indicated that the positive relationship between PsyCap and creativity was

significant when both SSC and job characteristics were high. To further examine

the three-way interaction, we used Dawson and Richter’s (2006) method to test

whether the difference between each pair of slopes was significantly different

from zero. In Table 3.5, representing high levels for all three explanatory

variables, slope 1 is different from the other three slopes (t = 3.38, p < .01). Thus,

Hypothesis 3 was supported.

Page 61: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 3

61

Table 3. 2 Comparison of Measurement Models

Model 2(df) RMSEA IFI TLI CFI △2(df)

Four factors

(baseline model):

PsyCap, SSC,

job

characteristics,

and creativity

622.22(399) .04 .96 .95 .96 --

Three factors:

PsyCap and SSC

combined

985.50(402) .06 .89 .87 .88 363.28(3)**

Three factors:

SSC and job

characteristics

combined

730.01(402) .05 .93 .93 .93 107.09(3)**

Two factors:

PsyCap, SSC and

job

characteristics

combined

1285.55(404) .08 .82 .81 .82 663.33(5)**

One factor:

All variables

combined

3292.10(406) .14 .42 .37 42 2669.88(7)**

* p < .05, ** p < .01

Page 62: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 3

62

Table 3. 3 Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlations

Variables Mean S.D. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

1. Gender 1.56 0.50

2. Age 32.4 7.06 .02

3. Tenure 3.26 1.52 .01 .58**

4. Intrinsic

motivation

4.74 1.03 -.08 -.01 -.01 (.86)

5. Education 3.31 1.36 -.03 -.31** -.20** .01

6. Job type 3.38 1.22 -.01 -.15** -.26** -.05 .28**

7. Industry 3.35 1.47 -.01 .01 .00 -.01 .03 .00

8. PsyCap 4.39 0.74 -.10 .06 .02 .69** -.02 .06 .03 (.92)

9. SSC 4.40 1.07 -.01 .02 -.03* .63** .00 -.05 .03 .60** (.86)

10. Job

characteristics

4.43

0.75

-.04

.01

.00

.69**

-.01

.08

.04

.61**

.69**

(.82)

11. Creativity 4.06 0.84 -.03 .03 .03 .51** .00 .00 .09 .49** .51** .51** (.81)

Cronbach’s alphas in brackets on the diagonal. * p < .05, ** p < .01

Page 63: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 3

63

Table 3. 4 Results of the Regression Analysis

Variables R2 △R2 F △F

Step 1

Gender .02

Age .00

Job type .03

Education -.01

Tenure .02

Intrinsic motivation .41**

Industry .05* .27 .27** 18.24** 18.24

Step 2

PsyCap .18*

SSC .16**

Job characteristics .18* .36 .09** 18.96** 15.38

Step 3

PsyCap × SSC .17**

PsyCap × Job

characteristics

.17* .42 .07** 20.74** 19.46

Step 4

PsyCap × SSC× Job

characteristics

.13** .43 .01** 20.08** 7.46

N = 356.

Regression coefficients represent unstandardized parameters.

Dependent variable: creativity * p < .05, ** p < .01

Page 64: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 3

64

Table 3. 5 Simple Slope Comparisons for Three-way Interactions

Pairs of comparisons Creativity

Slope t

1 (High SSC, high job characteristics) .76 3.38**

2 (High SSC, low job characteristics) .17 1.13

3 (Low SSC, high job characteristics) -.13 -.99

4 (Low SSC, low job characteristics) -.13 -.90

Slope difference

1 and 2 2.98**

1 and 3 4.14**

1 and 4 2.59**

2 and 3 1.34

2 and 4 1.03

3 and 4 .03

Pair numbers correspond to the numbers listed in Figure 3.3. * p < .05, ** p < .01

Page 65: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 3

65

Figure 3. 2 Two-way Interaction of PsyCap and SSC/ Job Characteristics on

Employee Creativity

Figure 3. 3 Three-way Interaction between PsyCap, SSC, and Job Characteristics

on Employee Creativity

2.5

3

3.5

4

Low PsyCap High PsyCap

Cre

ativ

ity Low SSC

High SSC

2.5

3

3.5

4

Low PsyCap High PsyCap

Cre

ativ

ity Low Job

characteristics

High Job

characteristics

2.5

3

3.5

4

Low PsyCap High PsyCap

Cre

ativ

ity

(1) High SSC, High

Job characteristics

(2) High SSC, Low

Job characteristics

(3) Low SSC, High

Job characteristics

(4) Low SSC, Low

Job characteristics

Page 66: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 3

66

3.5 Discussion

The purpose of this study was to investigate the conditions under which PsyCap

is related to higher creativity by testing the moderating role of SSC and job

characteristics. Building on the interactional perspective in the creativity

literature, the results indicate that the positive effect of PsyCap on creative

performance could be amplified by SSC and job characteristics. Additionally, we

found that PsyCap has the strongest positive impact on creativity when both SSC

and job characteristics are high.

3.5.1 Theoretical Implications

By exploring boundary contexts, our research extends the prior literature on the

positive relationship between PsyCap and creativity. In particular, the results of

the two-way interactions reveal that SSC positively moderates the PsyCap-

creativity relationship. This finding reinforces the importance of positive leader

behaviors in enriching the relations between certain personal factors and

creativity, especially desired supervisor behaviors (Zhou & Hoever, 2014). Our

findings demonstrate that job characteristics significantly moderate the PsyCap-

creativity relation. This corresponds with prior arguments suggesting that task

characteristics are an important moderator in creativity research because they

provide stimulation and information opportunities (Shalley et al., 2009; Shalley

et al., 2004). We enrich the earlier research by revealing that overall job

characteristics, rather than a single dimension, strengthen the association

between high PsyCap and creativity. These results highlight the need for future

research to consider a wider range of relevant leadership behaviors and the

negative aspects of task characteristics that theoretically influence the

relationship between PsyCap and creativity. For example, more investigation is

needed regarding how empowering leadership may leverage PsyCap to benefit

creativity. Empowering leadership provides employees with considerable

latitude (Zhang & Bartol, 2010) to take risks in creative activities (Zhang &

Zhou, 2014), which increases employees’ motivational resources (e.g., self-

efficacy) (Srivastava, Bartol, & Locke, 2006). Thus, empowering leadership may

strengthen the impact of PsyCap on creativity.

As expected, we found PsyCap to be most effective in generating creative results

when both SSC and job characteristics were high. This finding also contributes

to a growing body of studies regarding the complex interactions of creativity

predictors (Zhou & Hoever, 2014); these studies suggest that combinations of

personal, environmental, and task characteristics are better suited for employee

Page 67: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 3

67

creativity. That is, the presence of one condition amplifies the effects of other

conditions on promoting creativity (Zhang & Zhou, 2014). In light of our results,

future research should emphasize the potential combinations of other situational

and positional predictors for promoting or inhibiting workplace creativity.

3.5.2 Practical Implications

Our findings support the perspective that supervisors should support their

subordinates’ creative activities and that HR departments have a strategic role in

designing jobs that generate additive effects for employees with PsyCap to

increase creativity. First, it is beneficial to select candidates using a PsyCap test.

Second, supervisors must be trained to encourage employees and provide a

supportive environment that motivates their employees to engage in creative

activities. Third, jobs should be well designed to enable employees to feel more

excited and interested in attaining higher levels of creativity.

3.5.3 Limitations

This study has some limitations. First, as a cross-sectional study, our research

encounters the problem of hypothesized causality. Future longitudinal research is

encouraged to obtain more reliable results (Newman et al., 2014). Second, most

of our data, including our creativity measure, are self-reported. Although (Ng &

Feldman, 2012) suggest that in the majority of studies using large data sets, self-

ratings of creativity are acceptable (Shalley et al., 2009), future research should

apply other measures of creativity to increase the objectiveness of the results.

Third, we relied on a convenience sample in China. Although our sampling

technique provided a rich data set that included a wide variety of organizations

to test our hypotheses, we do not know the extent to which it may have biased

the results. Additionally, although we confirmed Luthan et al.’s (2008)

conclusions regarding PsyCap in China, our theoretical hypotheses of

moderating effects have not been examined in prior studies. Thus, replication by

future studies is required to establish the generalizability of our findings.

Page 68: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 3

68

Page 69: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 4

69

Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership

Foster Creativity among Employees and

Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Efficacy Beliefs4

Abstract

The stagnant situation of leadership theories has limited the advancements of

leadership approach in creativity research. From the compatibility perspective,

this research enriches our understanding of the potential benefits of

entrepreneurial leadership on creativity through creative efficacy beliefs. Using

multilevel, multisource survey data from 237 individual members and 43 team

leaders in eight Chinese companies, we conducted hierarchical linear modeling

analysis (HLM) to support the positive effect of entrepreneurial leadership on

employee and team creativity. We also found that creative efficacy beliefs as an

underlying mechanism that exerts within-level and cross-level influences in the

entrepreneurial leadership-creativity relation. We discuss the theoretical and

practical implications of this research and offer suggestions for future research.

Keywords: Entrepreneurial leadership, Employee creativity, Team creativity,

Creative self-efficacy, Team creative efficacy, Multilevel research

This chapter is based on: Wenjing Cai, Evgenia I. Lysova, Svetlana N. Khapova

& Bart A.G. Bossink. Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among

Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative Efficacy Beliefs.

Journal of Business and Psychology: Revise and Resubmit.

Page 70: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 4

70

4.1 Introduction

Given the importance of creativity for organizational success and innovation,

both scholars and practitioners have been interested in studying factors that

foster creativity in organizations (e.g., Anderson et al., 2014; Shalley et al., 2004;

Woodman et al., 1993). Significantly, they have found that leadership engenders

creativity in organizations (e.g., Mainemelis et al., 2015; Mumford et al., 2002).

Yet, given the mixed results regarding the influences of traditional leadership

styles on creativity, such as transformational leadership (for a review, see Rosing

et al., 2011), which leadership style is most suitable for this purpose remains to

be unclear. The current business world characterized by rapid change,

competition, and uncertainty requires leaders to optimize challenges and take

advantages of opportunities toward innovative and creative achievements. Thus,

scholars have suggested that entrepreneurial leadership emphasizing taking risks

may lead subordinates to make changes toward creative outcomes (Hitt et al.,

2011). Entrepreneurial leadership refers to “creat(ing) visionary scenarios that

are used to assemble and mobilize a ‘supporting cast’ of participants who

become committed by the vision to the discovery and exploitation of strategic

value creation” (Gupta et al., 2004, p. 242). Specifically, entrepreneurial leaders

with social abilities effectively organize and encourage followers to cope with

challenges in response to uncertainty (Covin & Slevin, 1991; Ireland et al.,

2003). In this way, followers develop a strong sense of producing creativity that

they have “not only the right but the obligation to seek out new opportunities and

to make them happen’’ (Gupta et al., 2004, p. 256). However, few empirical

studies have examined to what extent and how entrepreneurial leadership

contributes to employee and team creativity.

This study aims to contribute to enriching our understanding on this important

yet unclear issue. First, we examine the relationship between entrepreneurial

leadership and both employee and team creativity. We propose that

entrepreneurial leadership is predictive of creativity because of the compatibility

principle that suggests the same targets of attitudes and behaviors (Ajzen, 2005).

That is, the attributes of entrepreneurial leadership are compatible with

workplace creative endeavors (e.g., creating value, initiative, and taking risks)

(Leitch & Volery, 2017; Whiting, 1988); thus, subordinates recognizing these

similarities with their leader may be more receptive to the entrepreneurial

leadership style toward creative achievements. Given the multilevel nature of

leadership and creativity (Kozlowski & Klein, 2000), we illustrate the robustness

Page 71: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 4

71

of the entrepreneurial leadership-creativity relationship at both the employee and

team level in order to fulfill the inadequacy in research that a leader may

facilitate multilevel creativity simultaneously (e.g., Anderson et al., 2014).

Indeed, entrepreneurial leaders who adapt to emerging challenges and

opportunities meet employees’ creative needs to abandon current conventional

ideas and pursue creative solutions (Gupta et al., 2004), thus motivating

employees creative engagement (Renko et al., 2015). Meanwhile, realizing that

team creativity is not only the aggregation of employee creativity (Shin & Zhou,

2007), entrepreneurial leaders formulate an effective venture team to approach

challenges (Kuratko, 2007). In this way, they promote team members

interactions and evoke high level of team involvement (Gupta et al., 2004) in

order to generate more creativity (Chen, 2007).

Second, acknowledging the necessity of confidence to facilitate people to cope

with challenges in the creative processes, we rely on the motivational

mechanisms in the creativity literature (Liu, Jiang, Shalley, Keem, & Zhou, 2016)

to examine the role of creative efficacy beliefs in entrepreneurial leadership-

creativity relationships. To do so, we draw on Bandura’s (1986) social cognitive

theory (SCT), which notes that creative self-efficacious employees may have a

persistent resilience against risks in devising creative ideas (Tierney & Farmer,

2002, 2011). Researchers have recently advanced a multilevel approach by

identifying the parallel motivation processes at both the individual and team

level (Chen & R. Kanfer, 2006), which guides us in theorizing the application of

the concepts of creative efficacy at the team level (Bandura, 1997; Guzzo et al.,

1993). Empirically, research supports that team creative efficacy boosts

collective motivations to explore new perspectives toward team creativity (Ford,

1996; Shin & Eom, 2014). Thus, given the theoretical arguments that

entrepreneurial leaders highly consider developing workplace efficacy of

creative accomplishments (Renko et al., 2015), we expect that creative self- and

team efficacy are mediators of the relationship between entrepreneurial

leadership and both employee and team creativity.

With respect to determining the similarities or differences of motivational

intervening at multiple levels (Chen et al., 2013), while the organizational

literature suggests that team efficacy may be a more important predictor of

employee outcomes in a collectivistic culture (e.g., Asian countries)

(Schaubroeck et al., 2000), as it is influenced by context (Shin & Zhou, 2007),

little research has empirically examined the team-level mechanisms that transfer

the influence of leadership to individual creative outcomes (Shin, 2015). We

Page 72: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 4

72

propose that team creative efficacy exerts a cross-level mediating influence on

the relationship between entrepreneurial leadership and both employee and team

creativity (Gong, Huang, & Farh, 2009; Shin, Kim, Lee, & Bian, 2012).

According to prior research that has empirically identified the top-down effects

of team properties on individual creativity (Chen et al., 2013; Hülsheger et al.,

2009), SCT (Bandura, 1986, 1997) suggests that when a team has a high level of

(creative) efficacy, members are highly likely to put their efforts toward

(creative) achievements (Gully et al., 2002), as their strong connections with the

team (Kark et al., 2002) encourage their personal creative contributions to

greater team results (Brewer & Gardner, 1996). Integrating the positive

association between entrepreneurial leadership and team creative efficacy, we

suggest that team creative efficacy also mediates the relation between

entrepreneurial leadership and employee creativity. Overall, we propose a model

that suggests that entrepreneurial leadership can significantly foster team and

employee creativity through the development of creative team and self-efficacy

(Figure 4.1).

Figure 4. 1 A Theoretical Model of the Multilevel Effects of Entrepreneurial

Leadership on Efficacy Beliefs and Creativity

Dark-shaded box = team-level construct; white box = individual-level construct.

Our research aims to make several important contributions. First, we aim to

extend a growing recognition of the yet scarcely empirically examined relevance

of entrepreneurial leadership and creativity (Chen, 2007; Gupta et al., 2004;

Renko et al., 2015; Shin, 2015). In doing so, we answer calls to explore whether

different leadership styles, especially specific leadership with creativity-

Page 73: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 4

73

enhancing orientations (c.f. Avolio, 2007), foster creativity (Anderson et al.,

2014; Zhou & Hoever, 2014) by examining the compatible benefits of

entrepreneurial leadership on creative outcomes. Second, we extend the

multilevel approach in leadership and creativity research (DeChurch et al., 2010;

Kozlowski & Klein, 2000; Zhou & Shalley, 2008). Specifically, our research on

entrepreneurial leadership influencing both employee and team creativity

addresses the need for research that investigates the utility of leadership-

creativity associations at multiple levels. By extending previous findings on the

relevance of multilevel efficacy (Stajkovic et al., 2009), we also respond to calls

for level-specific mechanisms of the leadership-creativity relation by identifying

a similar pathway—creative efficacy beliefs—at both the employee and team

level. Furthermore, our examination of cross-level influences regarding team

creative efficacy adds to growing research on the generalization of the effects of

team variables regarding employee creativity (Hülsheger et al., 2009; Li et al.,

2014) by showing that both team efficacy and self-efficacy both motivate

employees to generate creativity.

4.2 Theory and Hypotheses

4.2.1 Entrepreneurial Leadership and Employee and Team Creativity

Gupta et al. (2004) develop the construct of entrepreneurial leadership as the

combination of creating a visionary scenario of opportunities and creating a cast

of followers to realize goals. Recent studies following this concept argue that

entrepreneurial leaders provide innovative activities, for instance, by identifying

opportunities for innovation and leading followers to achieve creativity (Renko

et al., 2015), in order to effectively stimulate employees and teams toward the

achievement of organizational innovation goals (e.g., Renko et al., 2015;

Thornberry, 2006). This line of research suggests that entrepreneurial leadership

motivates and challenges followers toward creative outcomes. In a similar vein,

past research acknowledging transformational leadership motivating creativity

(e.g., Gong et al., 2009) indicates some similarities between entrepreneurial

leadership and transformational leadership. However, there are distinct

differences. Transformational leadership overemphasizes leaders’ personal

outstanding characteristics, which may set visions beyond expectations. In

contrast, entrepreneurial leadership not only creates acceptable goals to lead

followers toward creative realization but also promotes a sense of taking risks

and taking the best of opportunities toward value creation. Such behaviors match

Page 74: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 4

74

workplace creative endeavors to generate positive effects for entrepreneurial

leaders pursuing innovation to trigger creativity.

At the individual level, employee creativity refers to generation of novel and

useful ideas, products, and processes by individual employees (e.g., Anderson et

al., 2014; Woodman et al., 1993). Entrepreneurial leaders who pursue innovation

and creativity (Covin & Slevin, 1991) entail challenges of creating a vision and

influence employees to foster its realization (Ruvio et al., 2010). Specifically,

when setting creative goals, entrepreneurial leaders pursuing innovation serve as

a role model for followers’ creative engagements (Jaussi & Dionne, 2003). This

significantly motivates employees to internalize the willingness to engage in

creative endeavors (Gong et al., 2013). For example, targeting value creation,

entrepreneurial leaders follow an innovative vision by developing skills and

utilizing knowledge (Chen, 2007; Gupta et al., 2004). Moreover, they provide

necessary support for creativity, for instance, by designing and adjusting

achievable goals to stimulate employees’ persistence and working with

employees to bring different perspectives and to resolve uncertain problems and

challenges. Thus, we propose the following:

Hypothesis 1. Entrepreneurial leadership is positively related to employee

creativity.

At the team level, team creativity refers to team members joint development and

production of ideas, products, and processes with novelty and usefulness (Shin

& Zhou, 2007). Regarding the arguments that teams are key source of new

ventures (Chen, 2007), it can be stated that entrepreneurial leaders focus on

motivating a collective spirit of creativity (Gupta et al., 2004). Specifically,

realizing the growth potential of creative team capacity (Chen, 2007),

entrepreneurial leaders attract and organize these highly motivated employees to

work together (Gupta et al., 2004), which will lead to collaboration toward

creative results. During this process, entrepreneurial leaders set common goals in

the dynamic business environment (Bagheri & Pihie, 2011; Ruvio et al., 2010)

and emphasize the importance of teams working toward challenges (Chen, 2007;

Gupta et al., 2004). Therefore, team members realize that working together may

generate greater energy and efforts that can in turn facilitate opportunity

exploration and risk taking toward creativity (Chen, 2007). Furthermore, through

building commitment among team members, entrepreneurial leaders can develop

creative initiatives for their team’s benefit (Morgeson et al., 2009). The team’s

creative achievements will be thus higher when leaders display an

entrepreneurial leadership style. Thus, we propose the following:

Page 75: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 4

75

Hypothesis 2. Entrepreneurial leadership is positively related to team creativity.

4.2.2 Creative Efficacy Beliefs as Mediators

Stemming from SCT, efficacy belief as a key psychological predictor mainly

concerns humans’ abilities and confidence that may internally motivate them to

approach goals, tasks, and challenges (Bandura, 1986, 1997). With regard to

enhancing creativity (Tierney & Farmer, 2002, 2004), efficacy tends to increase

the levels of individual effort and persistence that are crucial for successfully

generating creativity (Bandura, 1986; Ford, 1996; Stajkovic & Luthans, 1998).

The creativity literature uses creativity-oriented constructs of efficacy to offer a

better understanding of their effects in predicting creative outcomes (e.g., Shin &

Zhou, 2007; Tierney & Farmer, 2002). As such, in our study, we follow prior

research and expect that both creative self-efficacy (individual level) and

creative team efficacy (team level) mediate the relationship between

entrepreneurial leadership and creativity.

Creative self-efficacy—the degree to which employees believe that they are

capable of being creative (Tierney & Farmer, 2002)—increases employees’

confidence in their capacity to generate creativity (Choi, 2004; Gong et al.,

2009). People with a high sense of creative self-efficacy are likely to choose a

creative goal and to then mobilize their potential to realize it (Tierney & Farmer,

2002). Similarly, creative team efficacy, which refers to team members’ shared

belief about their team’s capabilities to produce creative outcomes (Shin & Zhou,

2007), facilitates both team and employee creativity (Ford, 1996; Shin & Zhou,

2007). At the team level, it emphasizes collective interactions to build a team’s

confidence in generating creative actions and performance (Shin & Eom, 2014).

At the individual level, empirical evidence in line with cross-level theories

(Chen et al., 2013; Chen & Kanfer, 2006) shows that creative team efficacy

motivates individuals’ creative engagements. Additionally, relevant research

indicates that leadership predicts both team and individual efficacy beliefs (Chen

& Bliese, 2002). Thus, consistent with previous research, we examine whether

entrepreneurial leadership instills a sense of creative capabilities (i.e., creative

team efficacy and creative self-efficacy) and then fosters creativity.

Creative Self-efficacy as a Mediator

Creative self-efficacy is affected by contextual variables (Tierney & Farmer,

2002) since employees seek information to develop their self-efficacy about their

ability (Ford, 1996). Existing research shows that supervisors nurture the

Page 76: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 4

76

development of employees’ creative self-efficacy (e.g., Tierney & Farmer, 2004)

by displaying positive behaviors (e.g., providing assistance and encouragement

and acting as models for engagement). For example, Gong et al. (2009) report

that transformational leadership can significantly enhance employees’ creative

self-efficacy, as supervisors’ desired behaviors can raise expectations toward

creativity and effectively stimulate followers’ motivation and belief to creatively

solve problems (Wang et al., 2014).

In line with existing studies on the relationship between leadership and creative

self-efficacy (Tierney & Farmer, 2002), we theoretically explain how

entrepreneurial leadership increases employees’ creative self-efficacy.

Specifically, entrepreneurial leaders are often more creative in taking risks (Chen,

2007; Covin & Slevin, 1988). They guide subordinates in behaving creatively

(Gupta et al., 2004); thus, they serve as a role model in creative engagement

(Renko et al., 2015). Second, as entrepreneurial leaders communicate with

employees to accomplish creative achievements (Chen, 2007), they have the

power to convince subordinates that they (subordinates) are capable of being

creative (Tierney & Farmer, 2002) through verbal persuasion. Moreover,

entrepreneurial leaders foster followers’ involvement in creative problem-

solving and innovative behaviors by providing support and encouragement

(Gupta et al., 2004). Therefore, employees are likely to experience their

confidence to create new ideas. Finally, aiming at goal achievement (Gupta et al.,

2004), entrepreneurial leaders help subordinates in their personal development

by enhancing their skills and abilities, which may lead to their subordinates’

success (Renko et al., 2015). Consequently, employees may experience personal

attainment and view themselves as being skillful in generating creativity. Thus,

we propose the following:

Hypothesis 3. Entrepreneurial leadership is positively related to creative self-

efficacy.

Existing conceptual and empirical studies have found a positive relation between

creative self-efficacy and employee creativity (e.g., Tierney & Farmer, 2002,

2011). Specifically, individuals are motivated through the establishment of high

goals to attain creative outcomes (Bandura, 1986, 1997). Their creative

expectations influenced by their creative self-efficacy are likely to motivate them

to devote effort to generate creative ideas (Gong et al., 2009; Tierney & Farmer,

2002; Wang et al., 2014). Additionally, creativity requires individuals to take

risks, and they therefore need to gain confidence in addressing difficulties and

problems (Amabile, 1996). Creative self-efficacy provides internal and

Page 77: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 4

77

sustaining support to inspire their efforts toward creative activities (Baer et al.,

2008; Tierney & Farmer, 2004).

Given our hypothesized positive relationship between entrepreneurial leadership

and employee creativity, we argue that when leaders display entrepreneurial

behaviors, they can effectively foster subordinates’ creative self-efficacy, which

in turn positively mediates the relation between entrepreneurial leadership and

employee creative performance. A higher level of entrepreneurial leadership

may lead to motivation and a sense of being a role model (Gupta et al., 2004); as

such, employees feel more motivated to fulfill and put more effort into

accomplishing the innovative goals that supervisors set (Ruvio et al., 2010),

which in turn increases their creative performance (Shalley, 1995). Thus, we

propose the following:

Hypothesis 4. Creative self-efficacy mediates the relationship between

entrepreneurial leadership and employee creativity.

Team Creative Efficacy as Mediators

At the conceptual level, leader behaviors may motivate teams to raise efficacy at

the team level (e.g., Chen & Bliese, 2002). This line of research has empirically

shown the positive relation between leadership style and group-level efficacy.

According to entrepreneurial leadership theory, entrepreneurial leaders are

effective at building teams to accomplish innovative goals (Gupta et al., 2004).

Such research emphasizes the benefits of entrepreneurial leadership on team-

level attributes toward desired performance (Chen, 2007). Indeed, empirical

findings support the positive association between leadership (e.g.,

transformational leadership) and team efficacy (e.g., Nielsen et al., 2009;

Walumbwa et al., 2004).

Theoretically, to effectively build teams, entrepreneurial leaders reinforce the

connections between individuals’ and the group’s value (Jung & Avolio, 2000)

by setting common goals (Gupta et al., 2004). Through dynamic interactions

(Chen, 2007), team members’ connections will then create a high level of

recognition among individuals that their collaborations will encourage other

team members’ creative contributions toward the big picture (Brewer & Gardner,

1996). Therefore, they become more confident about the capabilities of teams as

a whole (Gibson & Earley, 2007). Moreover, since team members are all

supervised by the same entrepreneurial leader, they may develop a consistent

sense of working for the same goals by the leader; thus, their collective view of

Page 78: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 4

78

their joint efficacy to generate creative outcomes will be activated and shaped

(Lord et al., 2001).Thus, we propose the following:

Hypothesis 5. Entrepreneurial leadership is positively related to team creative

efficacy.

Building on the top-down influence of team-level creativity on employee

performance (Chen & Kanfer, 2006; Gully et al., 2002), we expect the potential

positive effects of team-level factors (i.e., creative team efficacy) on individual

creativity. Specifically, team efficacy increases employees’ motivation for

creativity (Bandura, 1997; Ford, 1996). Indeed, the perceptions of team creative

efficacy set expectations for creative achievements, which in turn encourage

individuals to engage into creative endeavors (Bandura, 1997). That is, team

members with strong beliefs about their team’s creative capability are effectively

motivated to make breakthroughs for improvements and to persist when they

face difficulties (Shin & Zhou, 2007), since they know that their endeavor will

not be wasted (Shin & Eom, 2014).

Furthermore, as team creative efficacy develops from individual interactions

(Ford, 1996; Shin & Zhou, 2007), it motivates members’ interactions and

engagements in creative processes (Paulus & Dzindolet, 2008). For example,

employees with strong beliefs about their team’s creative capability (i.e.,

creative team efficacy) initiate creative activities (Bandura, 1986)—they are

more willing and confident in sustained creative engagements and are more

willing to share and exchange information and ideas to generate creativity

(Gibson & Earley, 2007). Thus, we propose the following:

Hypothesis 6. Team creative efficacy is positively related to employee creativity.

The foregoing arguments indicate that entrepreneurial leadership is positively

related to team creative efficacy and that team creative efficacy is positively

related to employee creativity. Therefore, we expect team creative efficacy to

serve as a mediator of the entrepreneurial leadership-employee creativity

relationship, as entrepreneurial leaders exert a positive influence on team

members’ efforts directed at generating creativity by developing the efficacious

belief that the team can produce creative outcomes. Thus, we propose the

following:

Hypothesis 7. Team creative efficacy mediates the relationship between

entrepreneurial leadership and employee creativity.

Page 79: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 4

79

Team creative efficacy leads to team creativity by motivating team members and

developing team creative processes (Shin & Zhou, 2007). Members in a team

with high level of efficacy are more likely to be motivated and to gain

confidence (Liu et al., 2011) and to therefore generate creative ideas. A growing

number of studies have found a significant positive relationship between team

efficacy and team creativity (e.g., Campion et al., 1993; Guzzo et al., 1993; Jung

& Sosik, 1999). For example, empirical work from Shin and Eom (2014) shows

that teams with high creative efficacy are more likely to achieve higher levels of

team creativity.

Given that we hypothesize that entrepreneurial leadership influences team

creative efficacy (Hypothesis 5) and that there is an established positive

association between team creative efficacy and team creativity, we expect that

entrepreneurial leadership is positively related to team creative efficacy and thus

increases team creativity. Therefore, we propose the following:

Hypothesis 8. Team creative efficacy mediates the relationship between

entrepreneurial leadership and team creativity.

4.3 Methods

4.3.1 Research Setting, Sample and Procedure

Our survey is conducted in eight Chinese companies that operate in various

industries. We first interviewed senior managers from these companies to

acquire the permission and confirm that creativity is welcomed. Next, we

randomly chose three to ten teams per firm (M = 5.4) and then sent

questionnaires to team members (including demographics and independent

variable measures) and team leaders (including team and employee creativity

measures) through emails. We ultimately received 237 valid questionnaires from

team members (response rate of 84.0%) and 43 from team leaders (response rate

of 86.0%). Of the participants, 55.3% were men, and their average age was 30.4

years, and the average tenure in their jobs was 7.34 years. The most frequently

indicated education level was a bachelor’s degree (57.0%), and most participants

were technical workers (81.0%).

4.3.2 Measures

Page 80: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 4

80

We used back-translation (Brislin, 1980) to translate our questionnaire into

Chinese. Unless noted otherwise, items were assessed on 5-point Likert-type

scales ranging from ‘1 = strongly disagree’ to ‘5 = strongly agree’.

Entrepreneurial leadership. We measured entrepreneurial leadership with eight

items from Renko et al. (2015) (e.g., “My supervisor often comes up with ideas

of completely new products/services that we could sell”). Employees rated each

item about their supervisor’s entrepreneurial leadership (α = .91).

Creative self-efficacy. We used a three-item measure of creative self-efficacy

from Tierney and Farmer (2002) to assess employees’ creative self-efficacy (e.g.,

“I have confidence in my ability to solve problems creatively”). Employees were

asked to indicate the degree to which the statements accurately describe their

efficacy for creative work (α = .76).

Team creative efficacy. We used four items to measure team creative efficacy

from Tierney and Farmer (2002) and Shin and Eom (2012) by modifying the

creative self-efficacy items to focus on teams’ creative efficacy (e.g., “Members

of my team have confidence in their abilities to solve problems creatively”).

Employees rated the extent to which they felt that each statement described their

beliefs in their team’s capabilities to perform creative tasks (α = .86).

Employee creativity. We used four items from Farmer et al. (2003) and asked

supervisors to report the creativity of each of their employees (e.g., “This

employee seeks new ideas and ways to solve problems”). This scale has been

developed from the Chinese context to reflect the Chinese view of employee

creativity (α = .84).

Team creativity. Using Shin and Zhou’s (2007) four-item scale, we asked

supervisors to measure their team creative performance (e.g., “How well does

your team produce new ideas?”), with a range from ‘1 = poor’ to ‘5 = excellent’

(α = .81).

Control variables. At the individual level, we controlled for age (in years),

gender (1 = male, 2 = female), education level (1 = “high school”, 2 = “"institute

of technology”, 3 = “bachelor”, 4 = “master”, 5 = “doctorate”), tenure (in years),

and job type classifications (1 = “technical (R&D)”, 2 = “marketing/sale”, 3 =

“administrative”, 4 = “financial/accounting”, 5 = “managerial”, 6 = “other”). At

the team level, we controlled for team size (total number of team members),

team age (in years), and leader tenure within the team (in years). We also

Page 81: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 4

81

controlled for transformational leadership, as we suggested at the outset that

entrepreneurial leadership is more facilitative than transformational leadership to

enhance creativity. For those purpose, we used a seven-item measure on a five-

point scale from Carless et al. (2000) (e.g., “My leader treats staff as individuals,

supports and encourages their development”).

4.3.3 Data Aggregation

We tested whether statistically aggregating data from employee responses to

team-level constructs would be justified. Specifically, we computed the within-

group interrater agreement (rwg) (James et al., 1984) and intra-class correlation

(ICC) (Bliese, 2000). The ICC(1) values of entrepreneurial leadership, creative

team efficacy, and transformational leadership were .29, .26 and .17,

respectively, while the ICC(2) values were .69, .65 and .53, respectively (all p’s

< .001). Moreover, the mean rwg values of entrepreneurial leadership, creative

team efficacy, and transformational leadership were all above .95. The results

indicate that aggregation was justified (LeBreton & Senter, 2007).

4.3.4 Validity Analyses

To assess the discriminant validity of the measures in our study, we conducted a

confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for entrepreneurial leadership, creative self-

efficacy, team creative efficacy, and employee creativity (Anderson & Gerbing,

1988). The results are presented in Table 4.1. The proposed five-factor model

demonstrated a better fit to the data (χ2 [210] = 385.45, p < .001, CFI = 0.94,

RMSEA = 0.06, IFI =0.95, TLI = 0.93, RMR = 0.04) than the following

alternative models. These results provide support for the distinctiveness of the

four study variables for subsequent analyses (Hu & Bentler, 1999).

4.3.5 Analytic Strategy

Given the proposed relationships from multi-levels, we used Hierarchical Linear

Modelling (HLM) and hierarchical regression analysis to test our hypotheses.

Specifically, to test hypotheses (H) 1, 3, 4, 6 and 7, we conduct three-step

regressions: 1) The independent variable (entrepreneurial leadership) should be

significantly related to the dependent variable (employee creativity), which tests

H1. 2) The independent variable should be significantly related to the mediating

variable (creative self-efficacy), which tests H3. 3) The mediating variable

should be related to the dependent variable with the independent variable

included in the equation, which tests H4 and H7. Moreover, to examine the

relationship between team creative efficacy and employee creativity (H6), we

Page 82: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 4

82

regress team creative efficacy at Level 2 on employee creativity at Level 1 in the

HLM. At the team level, to test hypotheses 2, 5 and 8, we conduct hierarchical

regression analysis because all the variables (entrepreneurial leadership, team

creative efficacy, and team creativity) are at the team level. Finally, we use the

Monte Carlo method (Selig & Preacher, 2008) to estimate the Confidence

Intervals (CIs) of the indirect effects. The analyses are conducted after we mean

centered all the variables.

Table 4. 1 Results of the CFA Models

CFA Models χ2 /df CFI RMSEA IFI TLI RMR

5-factor model :Baseline

model

385.45/2

10

0.94 0.06 0.95 0.93 0.04

4-factor model:

Combine entrepreneurial

leadership and team

creative efficacy

990.71/2

46

0.77

0.11

0.77

0.74

0.07

Combine team creative

efficacy and creative self-

efficacy

920.05/2

46

0.79

0.11

0.79

0.77

0.09

Combine employee

creativity and team

creativity

997.34/2

49

0.77

0.11

0.77

0.75

0.09

3-factor model:

Combine entrepreneurial

leadership, team creative

efficacy, creative self-

efficacy

1195.10/

249

0.71

0.13

0.71

0.68

0.07

1-factor model: Combine

all variables

1579.63/

252

0.59 0.15 0.59 0.53 0.07

4.4 Results

Descriptive statistics, reliabilities and correlations are provided in Table 4.2. As

expected, entrepreneurial leadership is significantly correlated with employee

creativity (r = .58, p < .01), team creativity (r = .64, p < .01), creative self-

efficacy (r = .52, p < .01), and team creative efficacy (r = .37, p < .01).

Furthermore, creative self-efficacy is significantly correlated with employee

creativity (r = .50, p < .01), and team creative efficacy is correlated with team

creativity (r = .53, p < .01).

Page 83: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 4

83

We use HLM to examine the multilevel influences on employee creativity (see

Table 4.3), and we use hierarchical regression analysis to examine the team-level

influences (see Table 4.4). Before testing the hypotheses, we run a null model to

examine the significance of systematic between-group variance. The results

show that the proportion of variance is 20%, and the chi-square test is significant

(χ2 [42] = 255.44, p < .001), supporting the use of HLM.

Entrepreneurial leadership is significantly related to employee creativity, as

shown in Table 4.3 (γ = .75, p < .001), and to team creativity, as shown in Table

4.4 (β = .77, p < .001). Thus, H1 and H2 are both supported.

H3 predicts that entrepreneurial leadership is positively related to creative self-

efficacy. Model 2 in Table 4.3 shows significance (γ = .69, p < .001), supporting

H3. To test the mediational effects of creative self-efficacy in H4, we regress

both creative self-efficacy and entrepreneurial leadership in Model 3. The results

indicate that both creative self-efficacy (γ = .19, p < .01) and entrepreneurial

leadership (γ = .75, p < .001) are significantly related to employee creativity, in

accordance with H4.

Regarding the cross-level effects, in Table 4.3, we first regress team efficacy in

Model 4 to establish the relationship between team-level efficacy and individual-

level creativity. Then, we simultaneously add entrepreneurial leadership and

team creative efficacy to Model 5 in order to determine the mediator of team

creative efficacy. H6 is supported in Model 4, as the team creative efficacy-

employee creativity relationship is significant (γ = .84, p < .001). Likewise, the

results in Model 5 show that both entrepreneurial leadership (γ = .60, p < .001)

and team creative efficacy (γ = .57, p < .001) are significantly related to

employee creativity, supporting H7.

Table 4.4 shows the results of the influences at the team level. Model 2 supports

H5 that entrepreneurial leadership is positively related to team creative efficacy

(β = .28, p < .05). Model 3 shows that both entrepreneurial leadership (β = .60, p

< .01) and creative team efficacy (β = .60, p < .01) are significantly related to

team creativity, lending support for H8.

Bootstrapped CIs corroborate the significant indirect effects of entrepreneurial

leadership on employee creativity through creative self-efficacy (CI95% =

[.04, .22]) and through team creative efficacy (CI95% = [.05, .18]); in addition, the

indirect effects of entrepreneurial leadership on team creativity through team

creative efficacy (CI95% = [.01, .39]) are significant. That is, the entrepreneurial

Page 84: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 4

84

leadership-employee/team creativity associations are partially mediated by

creative self-efficacy and team creative efficacy, again supporting H4, H7 and

H8.

4.5 Discussion

Our study explores the positive relationship of entrepreneurial leadership with

team and employee creativity, as well as the mechanism of creative efficacy

beliefs by adopting a multilevel perspective. As expected, entrepreneurial

leadership strongly predicts both team and employee creativity, which is

mediated by creative team and self-efficacy. Additionally, we found cross-level

mediation that team creative efficacy mediates the entrepreneurial leadership-

employee creativity relation.

4.5.1 Theoretical Implications

First, the primary contribution of this study is that with the first research

initiatives in this area (e.g. Chen, 2007; Gupta et al., 2004; Renko et al., 2015),

we build and examine a model that links entrepreneurial leadership and

creativity. We thus broaden knowledge on the influence of leadership styles on

creativity (Anderson et al., 2014) from the compatibility perspective.

Specifically, scholars in leadership-performance research have found empirical

redundancy and suggested that a specific leadership style may outperform

traditional leadership styles (e.g., transformational leadership) in predicting

specific creative performance (c.f. Banks et al., 2016; Van Knippenberg & Sitkin,

2013). Indeed, our findings indicate that transformational leaderships is not a

significant predictor of creativity, which substantially provides creditable

evidence on entrepreneurial leadership capturing more “compatibility” to fit

workplace creative characteristics toward creativity (Rosing et al., 2011). Thus,

extending the specific leadership-outcomes relations (Avolio, 2007) in creativity

research, our study established that leaders taking risks in uncertainty evoke

creativity (Mumford et al., 2002). In particular, although articles have suggested

the potential benefits of entrepreneurial leadership on creativity (Gupta et al.,

2004; Shin, 2015) limited empirical research has tested this assumption. We

enrich this line of literature by providing a preliminary attempt to show that

entrepreneurial leadership is a positive and critical facilitator of creativity.

Page 85: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 4

85

Table 4. 2 Means, Standard Deviations and Correlations

Individual-level Variables Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

1. Gender 1.45 0.50

2. Age 30.44 5.52 -.11

3. Education 3.77 0.68 .13 .04

4. Tenure 7.34 5.68 -.07 .83** -.05

5. Job type 1.42 1.12 .02 .05 -.04 .04

6. Transformational leadership 3.89 0.44 -.03 -.12 .05 -.08 .07

7. Entrepreneurial leadership 3.65 0.67 -.09 -.02 -.06 -.01 -.00 -.00

8. Creative self-efficacy 4.08 0.61 .11 -.09 -.01 -.03 -.10 -.02 .52**

9. Employee creativity 4.07 0.62 -.02 .01 -.08 .01 -.07 .00 .58** .50**

Team-level Variables Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6

1. Team size 7.14 4.38

2. Team age 3.00 1.53 -.06

3. Leader tenure with the team 2.37 1.33 .41** .05

4. Transformational leadership

(agg.)

3.89

0.29

.00

-.08

-.01

5. Entrepreneurial leadership

(agg.)

3.58

0.48

.20

-.10

.23

-.21

6. Team creative efficacy (agg.) 3.81 0.38 .01 -.09 -.06 -.17 .35*

7. Team creativity 3.88 0.65 .22 -.36* .17 -.18 .64** .53**

N = 237 for individual-level data and N = 43 for team-level data. agg. = aggregation. *p < .05, ** p < .01

Page 86: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 4

86

Table 4. 3 Results of HLM Predicting Entrepreneurial Leadership, Team

Creative Efficacy, Creative Self-efficacy, and Employee Creativity

Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4 Model 5

Employee

creativity

Creative

Self-

efficacy

Employee

creativity

Employee

creativity

Employee

creativity

Level 1

Intercept -.06(.05) -.06(.04) -.06(.05) -.05(.05) -.05(.04)

Gender .03(.03) .10(.03)** .01(.02) .03(.03) .03(.03)

Age -.01(.05) -.10(.05) .01(.05) -.01(.05) -.00(.04)

Education -.05(.03) -.03(.04) -.05(.03) -.06(.03) -.06(.03)*

Tenure .01(.04) .08(.04) .01(.04) -.00(.04) -.00(.04)

Job type -.03(.03) -.06(.06) -.01(.04) -.03(.03) -.03(.03)

Creative self-

efficacy

.19(.06)**

Level 2

Team size .01(.03) -.01(.03) .05(.03) .04(.04) -.01(.04)

Team age -.05(.05) -.01(.03) .05(.05) -.06(.04) -.03(.04)

Leader tenure

with the team

-.02(.04)

.06(.03)

.06(.04)

.06(.05)

.03(.04)

Transforma-

tional leadership

-.12(.15)

.08(.11)

-.13(.15)

-.15(.22)

-.02(.12)

Entrepreneurial

leadership

.75(.12) ***

.69(.08)*** .75(.12)*** .60(.12) ***

Team creative

efficacy

.84(.11) ***

.57(.14) ***

N = 237 team members (Level 1), N = 43 teams (Level 2); Unstandardized estimates are

reported; Values in parentheses are robust standard errors. *p < .05, ** p < .01, ***p < .001 (two-tailed test)

Page 87: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 4

87

Table 4. 4 Results of Hierarchical Regression Analysis Predicting

Entrepreneurial Leadership, Team Creative Efficacy, and Team Creativity

Model 1 Model 2 Model 3

Team

creativity

Team creative

efficacy

Team

creativity

Constant .28 .14 .20

Team size .01 .00 .01

Team age -.13* -.01 -.12*

Leader tenure with the team .01 -.04 .03

Transformational leadership -.20 -.14 -.12

Entrepreneurial Leadership .77*** .28* .60**

Team creative efficacy .60**

△R2 .28 .11 .10

△F 20.78*** 5.01* 8.95**

Level-2 N = 43. *p ≤ .05, ** p ≤ .01, ***p ≤ .001 (two-tailed test)

Moreover, we extend the multilevel perspective on leadership and creativity

literature (e.g., Agars et al., 2008; Chen, 2007; Oke et al., 2009) by

simultaneously demonstrating the entrepreneurial leadership-creativity

relationship at both the team and individual level. Our explanations that support

the positive associations between entrepreneurial leadership and creativity

advance the leadership approaches in the creativity literature (Zhang & Bartol,

2010). Specifically, entrepreneurial leaders not only motivate employees to

pursue creativity but also promote employee interactions toward team creativity.

Second, we embed creative efficacy beliefs as a mediator of the entrepreneurial

leadership-creativity relationship. Our findings thus extend SCT in leadership-

creativity research by hypothesizing that creative efficacy beliefs significantly

mediate the influence of entrepreneurial leadership on creativity. In this way, we

respond to the urgent calls for the investigation of intervening mechanism (e.g.,

George, 2007; Shalley et al., 2004) by showing that entrepreneurial leadership

influences creativity through a motivational mechanism (Shin, 2015).

Emphasizing that creative efficacies mediate entrepreneurial leadership-

creativity relations, our research confirms the importance of creative efficacy

beliefs as a mediator in the creativity literature (e.g., Chen et al., 2013; Liu et al.,

2011) by showing that entrepreneurial leaders building confidence convinces

followers can do motivation toward creative outcomes (Liu et al., 2016).

Page 88: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 4

88

Furthermore, by conceptualizing team-level efficacy, we enrich existing research

by illustrating entrepreneurial leadership as an antecedent and team creativity as

a consequence of team creative efficacy (e.g., Chen & Bliese, 2002). Our

research, furthermore, extends Chen’s (2007) research on the positive

relationship between (entrepreneurial) leadership and team creativity by testing

the significant mediator of creative team efficacy. This result definitely

strengthens the essence of the shared belief of a team’s creativity capability (i.e.,

creative team efficacy) through which entrepreneurial leaders convey to increase

team creative performance.

Third, we add additional evidence of a multilevel approach in creativity research.

The mediation of both individual- and team-level creative efficacy beliefs

highlights the necessity to consider the effect of leadership on creativity at

different levels, as it is multilevel by nature (Oke et al., 2009). We also find

significant cross-level effects that the influence of entrepreneurial leadership on

employee creativity can be realized through team creative efficacy. Further,

extending prior studies on how team-level predictors lead to individual creativity

(e.g., Chen et al., 2013; Hirst et al., 2009; Liu et al., 2011), our research enriches

the paucity of research exploring the multilevel mechanisms by which

(entrepreneurial) leadership promotes employee creativity (Shin, 2015). More

importantly, by simultaneously including both self- and team efficacy, our

findings significantly respond to the debate regarding the similar importance of

various types of efficacy in creativity research (e.g., Walumbwa et al., 2004) by

showing that both individual creative efficacy and team creative efficacy are key

antecedents to employee creativity in collectivistic countries.

4.5.2 Managerial Implications

We provide practical implications on facilitating creativity. First, organizations

should select leaders with entrepreneurial characteristics (e.g., taking risks,

building teams, and developing workplace efficacy) and provide training (e.g.,

designing dynamic and acceptable goals) to develop leaders’ skills of displaying

entrepreneurial behaviors. Moreover, leaders should display desirable behaviors

to nourish employees’ and teams’ creative capability (e.g., providing

expectations and encouragement toward creativity) and help members share

strong beliefs concerning their teams’ creative capabilities. By searching for

practices that develop teams’ confidence in being creative, leaders will boost

their team creativity.

Page 89: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 4

89

4.5.3 Limitations

First, our cross-sectional design may provide ambiguity about causality. For

example, team and employee creativity may enable leaders to act

entrepreneurially, accounting for the observed association. Further studies may

use a longitudinal design to better confirm the causal effects. Second, we test our

Western-originated model in the Chinese context without considering cultural

factors. Thus, future research should generalize our results in other non-Western

countries. Third, we fail to consider the effects of the working environment. For

example, as an innovative climate stimulates employees to obtain resources from

leaders, such a climate may accentuate the influence of leadership styles on

personal attributes and then creativity. Future research should thus examine

whether organizational climate positively moderates the mediated effects of

creative self-/collective efficacy in the relationship between entrepreneurial

leadership and employee/team creativity.

Page 90: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 4

90

Page 91: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 5

91

Chapter 5 Servant Leadership Promoting

Innovative Work Behavior in Chinese High-

Tech Firms: The Role of Meaningful Work and

Job Autonomy5

Abstract

Although existing research suggests that servant leadership contributes to

employee innovative work behavior (IWB), the mechanisms and boundary

conditions of this relationship are relatively unclear. We examine meaningful

work as a mediator and job autonomy as a moderator in the servant leadership-

IWB relationship. We collected data from three high-tech firms in China and

found that employees’ perception of meaningful work mediates the relationship

between servant leadership and employee IWB. Furthermore, the results showed

that this mediating relationship is conditional on the moderating role of job

autonomy in the path from servant leadership to meaningful work.

Keywords: Servant leadership, Meaningful work, Job autonomy, Innovative

work behavior

This chapter is based on: Wenjing Cai, Evgenia I. Lysova, Svetlana N. Khapova

& Bart A.G. Bossink. Servant Leadership Promoting Innovative Work Behavior

in Chinese High-Tech Firms: Meaningful Work and Job Autonomy Matter.

Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies: Under Review.

Page 92: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 5

92

5.1 Introduction

Defined as a series of activities for the generation, promotion, and realization of

ideas for new technologies, processes, techniques, or products (Janssen, 2000;

Janssen & Van Yperen, 2004; Yuan & Woodman, 2010), employee innovative

work behavior (IWB) plays a critical role in sustaining organizations’

competitiveness and success. There has been growing scholarly interest in

understanding the factors that foster this behavior (e.g., Anderson, Potočnik, &

Zhou, 2014; Scott & Bruce, 1994). More specifically, research has

acknowledged the important influence of leadership styles, such as

transformational leadership, transactional leadership, and ethical leadership, on

IWB (e.g., Michaelis, Stegmaier, & Sonntag, 2010; Pieterse, van Knippenberg,

Schippers, & Stam, 2010; Yidong & Xinxin, 2013). Acknowledging that the

traditional perspective of treating employees as instruments is detrimental to an

organization’s long-term competitiveness and survival (Van Dierendonck, Stam,

Boersma, De Windt, & Alkema, 2014), leaders must now support employees’

efforts to achieve organizational innovation by placing primary emphasis on

employees and their strengths (Liden, Wayne, Zhao, & Henderson, 2008). Thus,

academics and practitioners have increasingly linked servant leadership to

employees’ innovation (Hamilton, 2008; Liden, Wayne, Liao, & Meuser, 2014;

Neubert, Kacmar, Carlson, Chonko, & Roberts, 2008; Yoshida, Sendjaya, Hirst,

& Cooper, 2014).

Servant leadership is defined as “developing employees to their fullest potential

in the area of task effectiveness, community stewardship, self-motivation, and

future leadership capabilities” (Liden et al., 2008). It emphasizes serving

followers by caring and putting subordinates first (Liden et al., 2008). Thus,

servant leaders demonstrate that through a serving-others orientation, employees

can develop their desire to engage in innovative work (Hamilton, 2008; Liden et

al., 2014; Panaccio, Henderson, Liden, Wayne, & Cao, 2015; Van Dierendonck,

2011). A better understanding of the mechanism and the boundary conditions

through which servant leadership may relate to IWB will allow leaders to

manage employees more effectively. However, this important issue remains

underexplored (Liden et al., 2014; Yoshida et al., 2014). Our study aims to fill

this gap by identifying meaningful work as a key mediator and job autonomy as

a moderator.

Although prior research has pointed to identification with surroundings (e.g.,

leaders and groups) as mediators of the servant leadership–IWB association,

Page 93: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 5

93

such works overlooked individuals’ internal psychological processes (Chiniara

& Bentein, 2016). Drawing on Amabile and Pratt’s (2016) dynamic

componential model of creativity and innovation, we propose that meaningful

work mediates the influence of servant leadership on IWB. Referring to the

subjective experience that one’s work has significance, facilitates personal

growth, and contributes to the greater good (Steger, Dik, & Duffy, 2012),

meaningful work funnels employees’ willingness and excitement into innovative

tasks (Shalley, Zhou, & Oldham, 2004; Steger et al., 2012). When servant

leaders empower employees and create values for them, employees tend to have

a higher sense of purpose in their work (Greenleaf & Spears, 2002); this

significance increases the value employees attribute to innovation engagement

and behaviors (Yuan & Woodman, 2010).

Furthermore, based on situational leadership theory (Podsakoff & MacKenzie,

1997), the extent to which servant leaders effectively influence their followers’

outcomes may depend on certain conditions (Chen, Zhu, & Zhou, 2015; Liden et

al., 2014), especially task characteristics (Avolio, Walumbwa, & Weber, 2009;

Kerr & Jermier, 1978; Mumford, Scott, Gaddis, & Strange, 2002). Thus, a

consideration of working context is necessary to achieve a full understanding of

the effects of servant leadership on employees’ meaningful work and IWB (e.g.,

Ling, Lin, & Wu, 2016; Yoshida et al., 2014). The variations in creativity

primarily depend on whether employees’ tasks facilitate creativity (Shalley,

Gilson, & Blum, 2000), especially the discretion that each employee has to

perform tasks (Coelho & Augusto, 2010). Thus, we propose that job

autonomy—the core component of task characteristics (Hackman & Oldham,

1976)—moderates the influence of servant leadership on employee IWB via

meaningful work. Specifically, servant leaders are likely to motivate employees’

perception of meaningful work in a highly autonomous context in which

employees are provided more freedom and latitude to involve servant leaders in

the process of guiding meaningful work. In a similar vein, because autonomy

broadens employees’ choice (Ho & Nesbit, 2014) to fulfill their responsibility

for completing work in their own way (Langfred & Moye, 2004), it stimulates

them to obtain more IWB resources from servant leadership (e.g., assistant and

concerns) in a meaningful way. Taken together, we propose a moderated

mediation model in which meaningful work operates as a mediator in the

relationship between servant leadership and employee IWB while job autonomy

moderates the first path from servant leadership to meaningful work. Figure 5.1

presents the hypothesized model.

Page 94: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 5

94

Figure 5. 1 The Hypothesized Model

Our study makes several contributions. First, examining meaningful work as a

mediator extends our understanding of how servant leadership contributes to

employee innovation. In doing so, we answer calls to examine whether

employees’ subjective experiences of meaningful work may transfer the benefits

of contextual variables (e.g., leadership) to employee innovation (Amabile &

Pratt, 2016; Cohen-Meitar, Carmeli, & Waldman, 2009). In addition, we explore

other mechanisms, instead of identification constructs, that link servant

leadership and employee IWB (Liden et al., 2014; van Dierendonck & Rook,

2010; Yoshida et al., 2014). Furthermore, we enrich the theoretical arguments

about when leadership styles may generate effective influences by examining job

autonomy as a boundary condition in the indirect influences of servant

leadership on IWB via meaningful work. This is consistent with the conclusions

of recent studies (Avolio et al., 2009; Wang & Cheng, 2010), which have found

that the effects of effective leadership on employees’ desirable outcomes may be

contingent on task characteristics (e.g., job autonomy). To examine this issue

further, we illustrate that under the condition of high job autonomy, servant

leadership may lead to employees’ perception of meaningful work and in turn,

their subsequent IWB.

5.2 Theory and Hypotheses

5.2.1 Servant Leadership, Meaningful Work, and IWB

In terms of maintaining an employee focus to enhance subordinates’ motivations

toward innovation (van Dierendonck & Rook, 2010), servant leadership nurtures

followers’ desirable outcomes (Barbuto & Wheeler, 2006; Hamilton, 2008;

Mayer, Bardes, & Piccolo, 2008; Parris & Peachey, 2013). For example, Mayer

et al. (2008) found that servant leadership is positively related to employees’

positive psychological states (e.g., job satisfaction). Existing studies indicate that

Page 95: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 5

95

a servant leader may effectively fulfill subordinates’ needs by prioritizing their

development (Chiniara & Bentein, 2016), which in turn facilitates meaningful

jobs (Michaelson, Pratt, Grant, & Dunn, 2014; Owens & Hekman, 2012; van

Dierendonck & Sousa, 2016). Nevertheless, this line of research primarily

focuses on leadership behaviors’ influence on the single aspect of meaningful

work in terms of job characteristics, overlooking the fact that working may also

satisfy personal needs to connect with one’s surroundings and build relations

with the greater society and community (Allan, Autin, & Duffy, 2014).

Meaningful work represents “all that work means for individuals” and has a

“significant and positive valence” (Arnoux-Nicolas, Sovet, Lhotellier, Di Fabio,

& Bernaud, 2016). Specially, individuals’ perception of meaningful work refers

to their subjective sense that work has personal significance, contributes to

broader meaning in life (e.g., personal growth), and provides greater motivation

to positively influence others (Steger et al., 2012).

We propose a positive relationship between servant leadership and meaningful

work. To illustrate, when servant leaders put employees first by providing for

their concerns and development, employees feel that they are highly valued

(Liden et al., 2008). Moreover, when servant leaders’ behaviors (e.g., providing

assistance) cue employees that their work is worthwhile and significant,

employees develop a strong sense that their jobs are regarded as important and

meaningful. Similarly, servant leaders set a clear goal and build on employees’

strengths to achieve that goal, motivating employees to fulfill their responsibility

by working (Van Dierendonck, 2011). This responsibility develops individuals’

perception of meaningful work (Dik, Duffy, & Eldridge, 2009). In addition,

servant leaders prioritize subordinates’ personal growth (Bass, 2000), increasing

the likelihood that an employee will have a meaningful work experience

(Chiniara & Bentein, 2016). This line of reasoning suggests that servant leaders

provide employees with assistance and support to enhance their skills and

abilities (Liden et al., 2008), causing employees to perceive their competence as

developing and enabling them to experience meaningful work (Gagné & Deci,

2005; Van Dierendonck, 2011). Since leaders’ servant behaviors internalize

subordinates’ servant-oriented behaviors as a servant (Greenleaf & Spears, 2002),

these employees may build a prosocial motivation with a strong desire to help

others by displaying servant behaviors (Grant, 2008). Therefore, they have a

greater perception of meaningful work (Steger & Dik, 2010). In short, servant

leadership can leverage employees’ broader perception of meaningful work.

Therefore, we propose the following:

Page 96: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 5

96

Hypothesis 1. Servant leadership is positively related to employees’ perceptions

of meaningful work.

Following previous research concluding that meaningful work is a predictor of

employee work outcomes (e.g., Steger et al., 2012), we propose a positive

association between meaningful work and employee IWB. Faced with inevitable

failures and risks in the innovation process, employees who believe that work is

meaningful may be internally motivated to manage difficulties and challenges

(Simonton, 1999; Staw, 1990). The fact that people experiencing work as

meaningful may invest themselves in their work has been supported in a

considerable number of studies (May, Gilson, & Harter, 2004). Meanwhile,

since meaningful work underlines individuals’ valuable goals (Lips-Wiersma &

Morris, 2009), employees become motivated to perform more IWB (Yuan &

Woodman, 2010). Furthermore, the optimal experience of meaningful work that

originates from individual development may increase employees’ willingness to

utilize their abilities and energies toward innovation achievements (Kashdan,

Rose, & Fincham, 2004). Relevant findings were reported in a study by Shalley,

Gilson, and Blum (2009), who concluded that employees with a strong desire to

learn are more likely to generate, promote, and realize new ideas (Janssen & Van

Yperen, 2004). According to prosocial behavior research (Michaelson et al.,

2014), the fact that meaningful work benefits others (Steger et al., 2012)

signifies employees’ prosocial motivations by highlighting both their

interactions and their sense of belonging (May et al., 2004). By leading

employees both to find significance and purpose from their work and to work for

the sake of benefitting others (Grant, 2012), this prosocial influence stimulates

employees to generate innovative outcomes (Grant & Berry, 2011), because

these employees absorb information and perspectives that foster their cognitively

high level of IWB (De Dreu & Nauta, 2009). In sum, we posit that employees’

perception of meaningful work will enhance their IWB. Therefore, we propose

the following:

Hypothesis 2. Employees’ perceptions of meaningful work are positively related

to their IWB.

We further suggest that meaningful work can be a key mediator for explaining

how servant leadership can contribute to employee IWB. According to the

dynamic componential model of creativity and innovation (Amabile & Pratt,

2016), meaningful work acts as a mechanism that connects situational predictors

and employee IWB. Prior research found that innovation-facilitative leadership

(e.g., transformational leadership) facilitates subordinates’ desirable outcomes

Page 97: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 5

97

by making work meaningful (Arnold, Turner, Barling, Kelloway, & McKee,

2007; Walumbwa, Christensen, & Muchiri, 2013). As a leadership style that

generates meaning (van Dierendonck & Sousa, 2016), servant leadership

positively relates to employees’ IWB via the perception of their meaningful

work.

Leaders’ behaviors and attitudes reflect organizational values and goals (Avolio

et al., 2009). Therefore, in organizations in which innovation is highly welcome,

servant leaders transfer their organizational innovation goals to subordinates

(Liden et al., 2008), imbuing work with meaningfulness by connecting

employees’ personal innovation goals with broader organizational goals (Rosso,

Dekas, & Wrzesniewski, 2010). To realize employees’ personal goals, servant

leadership provides the service and resources needed to enable employees to

conduct more innovative work. Moreover, servant leadership emphasizing

employees’ growth and development helps employees feel that they are living up

to their full potential (Pratt & Ashforth, 2003). As a result, these employees are

likely to view their work as meaningful and engage in innovative activities

(Scott & Bruce, 1994). Accordingly, we propose that when a leader engages in

servant behavior, employees are likely to perceive their work as meaningful,

which then motivates them to generate and implement innovative ideas.

Therefore, we propose the following:

Hypothesis 3. Employees’ perceptions of meaningful work mediate the

relationship between servant leadership and employee IWB.

5.2.2 Job Autonomy as a Moderator

Job autonomy, defined as the extent to which individuals can decide on the

methods, process, and efforts necessary to accomplish their jobs/tasks (Hackman

& Oldham, 1976), is an important contextual factor to predict employee

creativity and innovation (Liu, Chen, & Yao, 2011; Scott & Bruce, 1994).

Scholars also found that job autonomy, like meaningful work, contributes to a

high level of employee well-being (e.g., Thompson & Prottas, 2006). For

example, when employees are performing autonomous tasks, they can freely

pursue the interests and activities that they value (Reis, Sheldon, Gable, Roscoe,

& Ryan, 2000).

According to situational leadership theory, the effects of leadership may depend

on situational contingency (Sims, Faraj, & Yun, 2009). Following the previous

research suggesting that job characteristics may determine the dysfunctional

Page 98: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 5

98

effects of servant leadership on employee well-being (e.g., Kalshoven & Boon,

2012), we hypothesize that job autonomy moderates the association between

servant leadership and meaningful work. Theoretically, job autonomy helps

employees feel more responsible for their work outcomes because they initiate

behaviors on working process (Hackman & Oldham, 1976); it also offers

employees more freedom to decide which information they can obtain and use

from relevant contexts (e.g., leaders) (Kim, Cable, Kim, & Wang, 2009). In

other words, when job autonomy is high, employees may have more

opportunities to receive and take advantage of the benefits of their servant

leaders’ supervision related to obtaining positive attitudes and taking initiative

when working (Den Hartog & Belschak, 2012; Gagné & Deci, 2005) (e.g.,

meaningful work). Specifically, when leaders create a serving environment to

help employees experience work as meaningful, high-autonomy jobs may allow

employees to broadly engage and enjoy meaningful work (Ho & Nesbit, 2014).

Thus, considerable autonomy among employees will strengthen the relationship

between servant leadership and employees’ meaningful work.

In contrast, employees who have a low degree of autonomy in their jobs may

gain a low level of psychological satisfaction (e.g., Hackman & Oldham, 1976)

and may be more dependent on leaders in this respect (Semmer, 2000). Thus,

even though servant leaders create the highest potential for employees to find

meaning and purpose in work, employees will be less likely to internalize their

activities as meaningful. Employees who fail to become interdependent and self-

contained are unlikely to utilize available resources to makes work meaningful.

Therefore, we propose the following:

Hypothesis 4. Job autonomy moderates the relationship between servant

leadership and employees’ perceptions of meaningful work in such a way that

this relationship is more positive in situations of high rather than low job

autonomy.

Despite the impact of high or low levels of job autonomy on how employees

respond to the effect of (different levels of) servant leadership on their

perception of meaningful work, levels of meaningful work are still critical to

predict levels of IWB. We further establish the moderated mediation effects

(Edwards & Lambert, 2007; Preacher, Rucker, & Hayes, 2007). In other words,

meaningful work mediates not only the association between servant leadership

and employee IWB but also the interactive effect of servant leadership and job

autonomy on innovation. Specifically, when a high level of job autonomy

broadens employees’ choice (Ho & Nesbit, 2014) and renders them more

Page 99: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 5

99

responsible for work (Langfred & Moye, 2004), it motivates greater IWB based

on a meaningful response to the benefits of servant leadership. Therefore, the

indirect effect of servant leadership on employee IWB through meaningful work

is likely to be stronger in situations of a high level of job autonomy. However,

when employees are constrained by a low level of job autonomy, employees

may have fewer opportunities to utilize the benefits of servant leadership to build

their perception of meaningful work; consequently, the indirect effect of servant

leadership on employee IWB should be weaker. Accordingly, we propose the

following:

Hypothesis 5. Job autonomy positively moderates the indirect effect of

employees’ perceptions of meaningful work on the servant leadership-employee

IWB relationship such that mediation effects are stronger when job autonomy is

higher.

5.3 Method

5.3.1 Procedures

Data collection was conducted in three Chinese high-tech firms by using a

questionnaire survey designed for this study. The firms were all IT-oriented

organizations in southwest China. We first contacted CEOs/HRs from these

companies to confirm that employee innovation was welcomed and to obtain

permission for our investigation. Next, employees completed the questionnaires

online with a brief introduction explaining that all information provided would

be kept confidential and the results would be sent to researchers only. To avoid

response bias, the names of the measures were not revealed, and the survey was

anonymous. Informed consent was obtained from all participants to ensure the

researcher had the right to use the collected data. The original questionnaires

were written in English; we used a back-translation process (Brislin, 1986) to

create a Chinese version.

The sample included 288 participants, 54.5% of whom were male and 45.5% of

whom were female. The average age of the employees was 30.5 years, and the

majority had a bachelor’s degree (55.9%). Participants’ average number of years

working in the relevant company was 3.3 years.

5.3.2 Measurements

Page 100: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 5

100

Existing measures with established validity and reliability were used to

operationalize all the constructs in our study. We used a five-point Likert-type

scale (from 1 = “strongly disagree” to 5 = “strongly agree”) to rate all items.

Servant leadership. Employees evaluated their managers’ servant leadership on a

7-item scale developed by Liden et al. (2014) (χ2 [11] = 16.98; TLI = .99; CFI

= .99; RMSEA = .04). This scale measures the extent to which employees

perceive their supervisor’s servant leadership style in organizations. A sample

item is “My manager puts my best interests ahead of his/her own” (α = .87).

Meaningful work. Meaningful work was assessed using the Work and Meaning

Inventory (WAMI) with ten items (Steger et al., 2012) (χ2 [24] = 33.25; TLI

= .99; CFI = .98; RMSEA = .04). Employees rated the extent to which their

work has a significant, worthwhile, and positive meaning (α = .88). Sample

items are: “I have a good sense of what makes my job meaningful” (positive

meaning); “I view my work as contributing to my personal growth” (meaning-

making through work); and “The work I do serves a greater purpose” (greater

good motivations). A higher-order factor of meaningful work was also found,

suggesting that the total score can be used as an entire measurement.

Job autonomy. Job autonomy was assessed with two items by adopting the

measure from the Job Diagnostic Survey (Hackman & Oldham, 1975). One

reversed item was dropped because of poor fit. Employees indicated the extent

to which they have freedom, independence, and discretion to determine their

jobs and tasks. A sample item is “I decide on my own how to go about doing the

work” (α = .80).

Innovative work behavior (IWB). Six items from Scott and Bruce (1994) were

used to evaluate employees’ innovative work behavior (χ2 [3] = 3.57; TLI = .99;

CFI = .99; RMSEA = .02). We followed prior research and used self-reported

ratings to ask employees to assess their IWB (e.g. Montani, Odoardi, &

Battistelli, 2014). A sample item is “I searched out new technologies, processes,

techniques, and/or products” (α = .89).

Control variables. Following previous research (e.g. Cuyper & Witte, 2006;

Scott & Bruce, 1994; Steger, Littman-Ovadia, Miller, Menger, & Rothmann,

2013), we controlled for a number of demographic characteristics that may

potentially influence the results in this study: age (in years), gender (1 = male; 2

= female), education (1 = high school, 5 = doctorate), and work tenure in the

Page 101: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 5

101

relevant organization (in years). We controlled for these variables because

existing research suggests that they influence IWB.

5.3.3 Discriminant Validity Testing

Given that all the data were collected from a single source (employees), we

conducted a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to assess the discriminant

validity of measures in our study (Anderson & Gerbing, 1988). Table 5.1 shows

the CFA results. Our hypothesized four-factor model demonstrated a better fit to

the data (χ2

[231] = 389.14; TLI = .96; CFI = .96; RMSEA = .05) than all the

alternative models (Hu & Bentler, 1999).

We also used a single test to conduct an explanatory factor analysis to identify

the potential for common method bias (CMB) (Harman, 1976). The result—that

one factor accounted for 33.80%, which is below the accepted threshold of

40%—suggests that CMB was unlikely to be a serious problem in this study. In

addition, we conducted the test of one-factor measurement model (Podsakoff &

Organ, 1986), which generated a poor fit to the data. Thus, CMB is not a serious

problem in our study.

5.3.4 Analytical Strategy

We follow existing research and conduct a four-step procedure to test the

mediation effects of servant leadership on employee IWB through meaningful

work. That is, when we conduct hierarchical regression analyses by entering

control variables, servant leadership, IWB, meaningful work, and job autonomy

on different steps, a full mediation is supported if four conditions are met: (1) the

independent variable (i.e., servant leadership) is significantly related to the

mediator (i.e., meaningful work); (2) the independent variable is significantly

related to the dependent variable (i.e., employee IWB); (3) the mediator is

significantly related to the dependent variable; (4) the relationship between the

independent variable and dependent variable becomes insignificant when the

mediator is present. We used the PROCESS macro from Hayes (2013) to

examine the moderated mediation effects.

5.4 Results

5.4.1 Descriptive Statistics

Table 5.2 presents the descriptive statistics, correlations, and scale reliabilities

for the research variables. As shown in Table 5.2, servant leadership was

Page 102: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 5

102

positively correlated with meaningful work (r = .45, p < .01) and employee IWB

(r = .16, p < .01). Moreover, employees’ perception of meaningful work is

positively correlated with their IWB (r = .48, p < .01). The variables were mean-

centered to calculate the components of the interaction terms (Aiken, West, &

Reno, 1991).

5.4.2 Hypotheses Testing

Table 5.3 presents the results of hierarchical regression. To test Hypothesis 1, we

examined the positive association between servant leadership and employees’

perceptions of meaningful work. The results in Model 2 shows that, after

controlling for the effect of employees’ gender, age, education, and tenure,

servant leadership was found to be significantly and positively related to

employees’ perception of meaningful work (β = .37, p < .001). Thus, Hypothesis

1 was supported. In addition, meaningful work was found to be positively related

to employee IWB in Model 6 (β = .48, p < .001). Thus, Hypothesis 2 was

supported.

Hypothesis 3 suggests that meaningful work mediates the relationship between

servant leadership and employee IWB. In Table 5.3, the first three conditions

were supported in Model 2 (servant leadership is positively related to

meaningful work), Model 5 (servant leadership is positively related to IWB), and

Model 6 (meaningful work is positively related to IWB). Model 7 shows that

when servant leadership and meaningful work were simultaneously regressed,

the relationship between servant leadership and employee IWB was not

significant (β = −.04, p = .45). To further clarify the mediation effect, we used a

bootstrap procedure with 10,000 samples by producing a confidence interval (CI)

for the indirect effect. The results reveal that the indirect effects through

meaningful work were significant (indirect effect = .18, p < .01, 95% CI

= .12, .26). Therefore, Hypothesis 3 was fully supported.

Hypothesis 4 predicted that job autonomy moderates the relationship between

servant leadership and meaningful work. As shown in Table 5.3, Model 3 shows

that the interaction between servant leadership and job autonomy was positively

related to meaningful work (β = .13, p < .05). As suggested by Aiken et al.,

(1991), we illustrated the pattern of the interaction effect. Figure 5.2 depicts the

plot of the moderation effect, showing that servant leadership is more effective

in increasing meaningful work when employees are high in job autonomy. We

also conducted a simple slope test. Specifically, servant leadership exerts a

stronger influence on employees’ perception of meaningful work when job

Page 103: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 5

103

autonomy is high (simple slope = .35, SE = .05, t = 6.64, p < .001) than when

such job autonomy is low (simple slope = .16, SE = .07, t = 2.20, p < .05), Thus,

Hypothesis 4 was supported.

Hypothesis 5 predicted that the indirect relation between servant leadership and

employee IWB through meaningful work would be conditional on the moderator

variable of job autonomy for the path from servant leadership to meaningful

work. Conducting a bootstrapping procedure with 10,000 samples, we estimated

the conditional indirect effects of an independent variable (servant leadership)

through a mediator (meaningful work) on a dependent variable (employee IWB)

at both high and low levels of a moderator (job autonomy). The results of bias-

corrected confidence intervals in Table 5.4 show that the indirect effect of

servant leadership on employee IWB through meaningful work was significant

only when job autonomy is higher (conditional indirect effect = .17, 95% CI

= .11, .26). These results lend support for Hypothesis 5.

Page 104: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 5

104

Table 5. 1 Comparison of Measurement Models

Model Test χ2 df △χ2 △df

TLI CFI RMSEA

Hypothesized 4-

factor model

389.14 231 - - .91 .93 .06

3-factor model:

Servant

leadership, and

job autonomy

merged

Servant

leadership, and

meaningful

work merged

Servant

leadership, and

IWB merged

Job autonomy,

and IWB

merged

Meaningful

work, and

IWB merged

981.30

1311.37

1647.80

925.33

1364.24

272

272

272

272

272

592.16

922.23

1258.66

536.19

975.10

41

41

41

41

41

.82

.71

.61

.82

.69

.83

.73

.65

.83

.72

.09

.12

.13

.09

.12

2-factor model

Servant

leadership,

meaningful

work, and job

autonomy

merged

Meaningful

work, job

autonomy, and

IWB merged

Servant

leadership,

meaningful

work, and

IWB merged

1477.03

1505.70

1766.50

274

274

274

1087.89

1116.56

1377.36

43

43

43

.67

.65

.58

.70

.68

.62

.12

.13

.14

1-factor model

(all variables

merged)

2258.91

350

1869.77

119

.56

.59

.14

Page 105: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 5

105

Table 5. 2 Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlations

Variables

Mean

S.D.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1. IWB 3.77 0.54

2. Gender 1.45 0.50 -.21**

3. Age 30.54 6.37 .03 -.12*

4. Education 3.80 0.73 -.00 .10 .17***

5. Organizational tenure 3.33 3.13 .02 -.01 .43*** -.14*

6. Servant leadership 3.61 0.66 .16** .03 -.14* -.03 -.15*

7. Job autonomy 3.69 0.78 .38** -.10 -.06 .01 -.04 .37**

8. Meaningful work 3.82 0.56 .48** -.05 -.07 -.07 -.15* .45** .37**

N=288. * p < .05, ** p < .01

Page 106: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 5

106

Table 5. 3 Results of Hierarchical Regression Analysis

Meaningful work Employee IWB

Model

1

Model

2

Model

3

Model

4

Model

5

Model

6

Model

7

Control

variables

Gender -.04 -.05 -.02 -.23*** -.24*** -.21*** -.21***

Age .00 .00 .00 -.00 .00 -.00 -.00

Education -.07 -.05 -.06 .02 .01 .05 .05

Organiza-

tional tenure

-.03* -.02 -.02* .01 .01 .02 .02

Independent

variable

Servant

leadership

.37*** .25*** .15** -.04

Mediator

Meaningful

work

.48*** .50***

Interactive

effects

Servant

leadership ×

job autonomy

.13*

R2 .03 .21 .28 .05 .08 .28 .28

△R2 .03 .18 .02 .05 .03 .23 .20

F 2.37 15.29*** 15.36*** 3.30* 4.60*** 21.74*** 18.18***

△F 2.37 65.83*** 6.35* 3.30* 9.29** 90.12*** 79.66***

N=288. * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001

Page 107: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 5

107

Figure 5. 2 Moderating Effects of Autonomy on the Servant Leadership-

Meaningful Work Relationship

Table 5. 4 Results of Moderated Mediation

Moderator (job autonomy) Indirect

effect

SE 95% confidence interval

Lower limit Upper limit

Low levels of job autonomy

(-1 S.D)

.08

.05

-.01

.17

High levels of job autonomy

(+1 S.D)

.17

.04

.11

.26

N=288.

Based on the 10,000 bootstrapping samples.

3.5

3.7

3.9

4.1

4.3

4.5

Low Servant

leadership

High Servant

leadership

Mea

nin

gfu

l w

ork

Low Autonomy

High Autonomy

Page 108: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 5

108

5.5 Discussion

Acknowledging the association between servant leadership and employee IWB,

the present research sought to explore this association by establishing

meaningful work as an intervening mechanism. Moreover, we identified

autonomy as a boundary condition for this indirect influence. As expected, our

analyses showed that the servant leadership-employee IWB association was

mediated by followers’ perception of meaningful work and moderated by job

autonomy. Therefore, the findings illustrate that servant leadership has some

influence on employee innovation by promoting meaningful work when job

autonomy is high.

5.5.1 Theoretical Implications

Expanding the literature that links servant leadership and IWB, the current study

identifies the mechanism of employees’ perception of meaningful work. Our

findings are consistent with past research that acknowledges an indirect link

between servant leadership and employee innovativeness (Neubert et al., 2008;

Yoshida et al., 2014). Thus, we answered the call for exploring the mechanisms

between servant leadership and employee outcomes, especially innovative

results (e.g., Liden et al., 2014; van Dierendonck & Rook, 2010; Yoshida et al.,

2014). Extending the existing research suggesting that an identity perspective

transmits the impact of servant leadership on subordinates, our examination

evokes the internal psychological process (Chiniara & Bentein, 2016) of

employees perceiving work as meaningful. When servant leaders nurture

employees’ experience of meaningful work, employees are motivated to be

innovative and provide empirical contributions to the dynamic componential

model of creativity and innovation (Amabile & Pratt, 2016). This indicates that

leaders’ behaviors and attitudes toward innovation may shape the value that

employees attribute to work (i.e., meaningful work), further promoting

innovative endeavors. Since previous research has indicated some concepts that

constitute the mechanisms linking servant leadership and employee innovative

outcomes, it would be productive for future research to explore other potential

mechanisms (e.g., trust, engagement, and efficacy beliefs) (e.g., Sendjaya &

Sarros, 2002; Walumbwa, Hartnell, & Oke, 2010).

Furthermore, although researchers who study meaningful work acknowledge

that leaders may influence the meaning employees experience at work (e.g.,

Arnold et al., 2007; Peng et al., 2016; Walumbwa et al., 2013), our findings

enriched this line of research by arguing that servant leadership is an antecedent

Page 109: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 5

109

of meaningful work. As such, we broaden the research scope on leaders as a

source of meaningful work by answering the call of Michaelson and coauthors

(2014) to investigate the association between servant leadership styles and

followers’ meaningful work. Consistent with previous studies that emphasize the

significance of servant leadership in facilitating employees’ psychological needs

(Van Dierendonck et al., 2014), the positive relation between servant leadership

and meaningful work further theorizes scholars’ concerns that caring for and

serving the strengths of followers (i.e., displayed by servant leadership) may

form a sense of meaningful work (van Dierendonck & Sousa, 2016).

In addition, our findings bolster the argument that meaningful work is a critical

antecedent to employee innovation (Cohen-Meitar et al., 2009; Staw, 1990). As

one of the initial attempts to empirically examine the positive association

between meaningful work and employee IWB, our results shed light on the

neglected benefit of having a sense of meaningful work in employee creativity

and innovation research (Amabile & Pratt, 2016). In other words, when work is

perceived as meaningful, employees may be motivated to cope with challenges

with innovative activities because they have built a strong sense that their work

has significance, value, and social influence. This effect also reflects the

prominent motivational perspective in creativity and innovation research (Liu,

Jiang, Shalley, Keem, & Zhou, 2016) that meaningful work acts as a new type of

motivation contributing to innovative results.

Finally, our findings on job autonomy as a moderator of the indirect influences

of servant leadership on IWB through meaningful work highlights the key

boundary condition of working conditions (Van Dierendonck et al., 2014). The

role of job autonomy as revealed herein contributes to the servant leadership

literature by suggesting that autonomy significantly strengthens the relationship

between servant leadership and meaningful work. Autonomous job design

allows employees to gain more opportunities to enjoy the benefits of servant

leadership and experience meaningful work. More importantly, by answering

calls for more study and extending past research on how context may enhance or

inhibit the effects of servant leadership and employee innovation (e.g., Liden et

al., 2014; Ling et al., 2016; Yoshida et al., 2014), this study also shows how job

autonomy moderates the indirect relation of servant leadership and employee

IWB through meaningful work, with slightly mixed implications. Regarding the

integrated model, the moderated mediation effects indicate that meaningful work

mediates the impact of servant leadership on IWB only when employees have

high job autonomy, not when they have low job autonomy. This finding suggests

Page 110: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 5

110

that when highly autonomous jobs are assigned to employees, servant leadership

may generate more positive effects for enhancing their meaningful work, and

then IWB. When employees have a low level of autonomy, regardless of

whether servant leaders provide desirable behaviors that allow people to

perceive their work as meaningful, they are unlikely to engage in innovative

behavior in their work. In other words, high job autonomy is essential to

determining whether servant leadership has positive effects on meaningful work

and employee IWB.

5.5.2 Practical Implications

Our research highlighted the significance of servant leadership and meaningful

work in promoting employee IWB. Although Chinese companies have a

hierarchical structure (Redding, 1990), servant leadership has the same positive

influence in Chinese contexts (Han, Kakabadse, & Kakabadse, 2010), with

powerful effects on managing employees’ positive psychological states and

innovativeness. Based on our findings, we can discuss some managerial

implications. First, the results suggest that leaders who serve subordinates

motivate them to pursue meaningful work and engage in innovative endeavors;

therefore, organizations should select managers with servant leadership skills.

Alternatively, supervisors should learn how to develop coaching and serving

skills to benefit employees’ well-being, especially as it relates to the perception

of meaningful work. Second, given the importance of meaningful work, diverse

human resource management practices should be implemented to help increase

the meaningfulness of work (Grant, 2008). To be more specific, by providing

training programs relevant to employees’ work and by designing meaningful

work for employees, an organization can effectively reinforce employees’ ability

to find meaning in their jobs. Finally, considering the critical role of autonomy

in fostering the influence of servant leadership on IWB through meaningful

work, a desirable social environment is required to strengthen the positive role of

IWB predictors. On the one hand, managers should adopt an autonomy-oriented

style, and organizations should also design autonomous work structures in the

workplace that reinforce the advantages of servant leadership on meaningful

work. On the other hand, organizations can build an autonomous work

environment to promote employees’ vitality in innovative outcomes.

5.5.3 Limitations

This study has some limitations. First, our cross-sectional research design

generates a problem of causality in our results. In the future, longitudinal designs

Page 111: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 5

111

should be conducted to provide more evidence for reliable causal directions.

Second, we use self-reported assessments of employee IWB, which may fail to

assess it more objectively. Even though scholars found that employees can make

a better judgment of their (innovative/creative) performance than supervisors

because they (employees) have more information about their work activities

(Janssen, 2000), we encourage future research to introduce more objective

measures of IWB (e.g., customer or supervisor assessment) (e.g. Stashevsky,

Burke, Carmeli, Meitar, & Weisberg, 2006). Next, given that IWB includes a

series of stages (e.g., idea generation and idea implementation), predictors may

have different relations with separate aspects of the innovation process (Birdi,

Leach, & Magadley, 2016). For example, in an empirical study by Birdi et al.

(2016), social support has no significantly positive influence on idea

implementation. Consequently, future research needs to examine whether the

antecedents have the same effects on the different IWB stages. The last

limitation concerns the generalizability of these findings in that this study

contained a relatively small sample from IT companies. In this regard, it would

be valuable to build on our findings in other types of industries/organizations by

using a larger dataset.

Page 112: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 5

112

Page 113: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 6

113

Chapter 6 Discussion

Creativity is widely recognized as an important source of organizational success

and competition, and thus, managing employee creativity is a critical task for

organizations. In this dissertation, I set out to investigate how to creativity can be

fostered by integrating the influences from organizations and employee

themselves. In doing so, I simultaneously examined five important yet well-

investigated topics on organizational HRM, employee themselves, leadership

issues, job design, and team properties with respect to their effects on creative

outcomes. Our theoretical reasoning and findings suggest that 1) organizations

can provide bundles of HR practices to produce synergistic effects in

maximizing employee creative performance; 2) employees may take advantage

of their own psychological characteristics to attain creative achievements; 3)

leadership or supervisory behavior in favor of creativity and innovation may

contribute to creativity by nurturing employees’ psychological states (e.g.,

meaningful work and creative self-efficacy), as well as by accentuating the

positive effects of positive psychological factors (i.e., PsyCap) on creativity; 4)

well-designed tasks (i.e., those rich in variety, identity, autonomy, feedback, and

significance) enhance the possibilities that employees may utilize their

psychological advantages (e.g., PsyCap and meaningful work) or leaders’

influences (e.g., supervisor support for creativity and servant leadership) for

creative and innovative outcomes; and 5) team variables have strong associations

with employee creativity. This chapter discusses the main findings of Chapters

2-5 and illuminates the important theoretical and practical implications and some

limitations of the current thesis.

6.1 Summary of the Main Findings per Topic

This section presents the most important findings from one conceptual paper and

three empirical papers, which all focus on exploring the influences of

organizations and employee themselves on creativity. Table 6.1 presents an

overview of the main findings of each chapter.

Page 114: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 6

114

Table 6. 1 Research Questions and Key Findings per Chapter

Chapter

Research question

Key findings

2

How can the AMO

model provide a new

framework to understand

the interactions in the

creativity literature in

depth?

- From a practical perspective, the AMO model (as a typical HRM theory) can provide a new

lens to explain how personal factors interact with contextual factors in generating employee

creativity.

- Creativity predictors can be categorized as ability-, motivation-, and opportunity-enhancing

practices, based on their different functions in the AMO model.

- A framework with two main models—the combination model and multiplicative model—

explains the different levels of creative performance. In the combination model, the separate

moderation effects of motivation- and opportunity-enhancing practices on the relationship

between ability-enhancing practices and creativity lead to higher level of employee

creativity, whereas in the multiplicative model, the joint moderation effect of motivation-

and opportunity-enhancing practices on the relationship between ability-enhancing practices

and creativity leads to the highest level of employee creativity.

3

To what extent does

PsyCap predict the

highest level of

employee creativity?

- PsyCap (a high-order construct that contains self-efficacy, optimism, hope and resiliency) is

positively related to employee creativity.

- SSC moderates the relationship between PsyCap and creativity such that the relationship

between PsyCap and creativity is stronger when SSC is higher.

- Job characteristics (a high-order construct that contains job autonomy, task significance, skill

variety, task identity, and feedback) moderate the relationship between PsyCap and creativity

such that the relationship between PsyCap and creativity is stronger when job characteristics

(autonomy, significance, identity, skill variety, and feedback) are higher with respect to

fostering creativity.

- PsyCap, SSC, and job characteristics interact in affecting creativity such that the highest

level of creativity is expected when employee PsyCap, SSC, and job characteristics are all

high with respect to fostering creativity.

Continued

Page 115: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 6

115

(Continued)

Chapter

Research question

Key findings

4

How does

entrepreneurial

leadership influence

creativity from a multi-

level perspective?

- We found a positive relationship between entrepreneurial leadership and creativity, which

broadens our horizons on the specific effects of leadership for creativity.

- At the individual level, creative self-efficacy mediates the relationship between

entrepreneurial leadership and employee creativity.

- At the team level, team creative efficacy mediates the relationship between entrepreneurial

leadership and team creativity.

- Regarding the cross-level effects, team creative efficacy not only contributes to employee

creativity but also mediates the relationship between entrepreneurial leadership and

employee creativity.

5

Through what

explanatory mechanisms

and under what boundary

conditions does servant

leadership contribute to

employee IWB?

- Meaningful work as a key mediator and job autonomy as a moderator enrich our

understanding of the positive relationship between servant leadership and IWB.

- Servant leadership is positively related to meaningful work.

- Employees’ perception of meaningful work is positively related to their IWB.

- Job autonomy positively moderates the relationship between servant leadership and

employees’ perception of meaningful work in such a way that this relationship is more

positive with high rather than low job autonomy, and employees’ perception of meaningful

work has a mediating effect on the servant leadership-employee IWB relationship, such that

the mediation effect is stronger when job autonomy is higher.

Page 116: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 6

116

6.2 Theoretical Implications and Related Future Research

Directions

The previous section provides an overview of the main findings of each study. In

this section, I expand upon the theoretical implications of this thesis across the

four individual chapters above by highlighting how the key topics of research

can be examined continuously, as well as by pointing to future research avenues.

6.2.1 HR practices focused on creativity management

While some theoretical arguments suggest connections between HRM and

creativity by showing that HRM practices may facilitate employee creativity at

work (e.g., Bos-Nehles, Renkema, & Janssen, 2017; Bos-Nehles & Veenendaal,

2017; Chang et al., 2014; Ma, Long, Zhang, Zhang, & Lam, 2017; Shin, Jeong,

& Bae, 2016), an integrated conceptual framework combining HRM and

creativity is lacking. Given the ongoing scholarly attention on how to advance

existing knowledge on the complex interactionist approach in the creativity

literature, I draw on the domain theory in the HRM literature—the AMO

model—to provide a new lens to understand creativity research in depth,

especially with respect to the interactional perspective. That is, employee

creativity can be best explained in terms of bundles of HR practices within the

AMO model.

This thesis first adds to the creativity literature by providing a refined

categorization of creativity predictors in the AMO model. That is, personal and

contextual predictors in creativity research are classified into three practical

dimensions (i.e., ability-, motivation- and opportunity-enhancing practices). The

classifications of creativity predictors from the viewpoint of HRM suggest a new

explanation for the different functions of personal and contextual variables. This,

furthermore, indicates the various interaction effects with respect to creativity.

The results reveal that the various bundles of practices may bring about

variations in creativity, which enriches extant knowledge on interactions effects

with respect to creativity. Specifically, the combination model (i.e., where

motivation- and opportunity-enhancing practices are interacted with ability-

enhancing practices) shows a higher level of creativity than the main effects of

ability predictors on creativity; moreover, the multiplicative model (i.e., where

motivation- and opportunity-enhancing practices are simultaneously interacted

with ability-enhancing practices) shows the highest level of creativity.

Page 117: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 6

117

By conceptually confirming the connections between HRM and creativity, the

results provide a better understanding on the interactionist model in the

creativity literature. However, this thesis provides only one additional step in

this direction, and future research is highly encouraged to ensure that these

findings apply broadly. First, based on the various interactions that I propose in

the study (i.e., combination model and multiplicative model), researchers may

conduct studies to empirically determine how these variables interplay with each

other in contributing to employees’ creative results. For example, Chapter 3

follows the logic above to examine the interactions of PsyCap, supervisor

support for creativity, and job characteristics with respect to creativity. The

results fully support the conclusion that the combination model and

multiplicative model lead to higher and the highest level of employee creativity,

respectively. Next, as the AMO theory is developing, some scholars have

claimed that the three dimensions of HR practices may exert indirect influences

on employees’ (creative) performance (e.g., Jiang et al., 2012). Thus, it would be

promising to investigate the mechanisms through which these interactions affect

creativity. Take PsyCap in Chapter 3 as an example. Given that PsyCap may

influence employees’ perception of their jobs (e.g., Sun, Zhao, Yang, & Fan,

2012), the interactions between PsyCap and other contextual variables (i.e.,

motivation- and opportunity-enhancing practices) may affect employees’ job

attitudes (e.g., job embeddedness), which in turn predicts employees’ creative

performance.

6.2.2 The psychological role of employee themselves

A commonly accepted argument is that employees with creative potential may

use their personal characteristics to produce creativity (Zhou & Shalley, 2008).

Thus, many studies have identified the influences of these factors on creativity

(for reviews, see Anderson et al., 2014; Shalley et al., 2004). The significant

conclusions in this thesis highlight that individuals’ psychological attributes,

which are specified as PsyCap (Chapter 3), creative efficacy beliefs (Chapter 4),

and meaningful work (Chapter 5), are important for their creative outcomes.

These psychological states indicate whether employees are psychologically

capable of doing creative and innovative work.

In terms of main effects, Chapter 3 confirms the existing theoretical suggestions

that employee PsyCap benefits their creative performance. As a high-order

construct, PsyCap captures the main meaning of positive psychology, and thus,

psychologically positive employees may generate a strong internal motivation to

address the inevitable failures when generating novel and useful ideas and

Page 118: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 6

118

solutions. This empirical explanation of the moderators of favorable contextual

predictors (e.g., supervisor support for creativity and job characteristics) also

indicates that the advantages of followers’ positive psychology on creativity can

be strengthened by the joint interactions of multiple contextual facilitators.

Chapter 4 further centers on the widely accepted aspect of PsyCap—efficacy

beliefs. It not only examines the positive influences of creative efficacy on

creativity but also investigates the process whereby creative efficacy beliefs are

shaped by leadership styles in helping employees pursue creativity. In line with

the motivation mechanisms in creativity, the findings establish the intervening

mechanisms of creative efficacy by highlighting creative self-efficacy as a

mediator of the entrepreneurial leadership-creativity association. Moreover,

Chapter 5 opens a new avenue for innovation and creativity research, where

employees’ perception of meaningful work is a key mediator in the positive

relation between (servant) leadership and IWB. Beyond the traditional

perspective of motivations that predict IWB, the construct of meaningful work is

proposed and examined to promote employee IWB, as experiencing work as

meaningful enables employees to build a strong and clear understanding of their

abilities and expectations regarding innovative activities.

Although these studies attempt to identify the positive relation between

employee psychology and creativity, future research is encouraged to broaden

this concept of psychology in the creativity and innovation literature by

exploring other types, such as prosocial motivations. For example, as creativity

requires both novelty and usefulness, employees’ preferences in taking others’

opinions are highly critical for creativity (Grant & Berry, 2011). That is,

prosocial motivation may direct employees’ thinking in other ways (Hoever,

Van Knippenberg, Van Ginkel, & Barkema, 2012) and foster generous actions

(Carmeli, McKay, & Kaufman, 2014), which in turn internally motivates

employees to produce creative outcomes (Bai, Li, & Lin, 2016). The results that

prosocial motivation mediates the context-creativity relationship in the meta-

analysis of Liu et al. (2016) also indicates that future research should consider

how leaders nurture employees’ prosocial motivation through a role-model

process that facilitates employees’ creative achievements. Furthermore, given

the multilevel approach in Chapter 4, research in the future should consider the

application of individual psychological characteristics at the team level, which

may enrich the functional similarities or differences in the creative processes

across levels of analysis. For example, team PsyCap, reflecting a more consistent

sense of efficacy, optimism, hopefulness, and resilience, may predict creative

Page 119: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 6

119

and innovative outcomes at both the individual and team level, as it allows

employees to be involved in an interactive or coordinative process in teams to

produce desired behaviors and performance outcomes (Walumbwa, Luthans,

Avey, & Oke, 2011).

6.2.3 The leadership approach in creativity research

In line with the acknowledgement that leadership or supervisory behavior does

affect employee creativity (Tierney, 2008), we extend this limited area on how

leaders influence creativity and innovation by answering scholars’ calls for

investigating a broad range of leadership styles (e.g., Anderson et al., 2014;

Shalley et al., 2004). Basically, because of the uncertainty and risk taking during

the process of generating and implementing ideas, the potential advantages of

leaders indicate that leaders should have a strong creativity and innovation

orientation and display behaviors and attitudes in favor of fostering employees’

creativity (Mainemelis et al., 2015; Mumford, Scott, Gaddis, & Strange, 2002).

In particular, Chapter 2 generalizes the basic role of leaders—motivating

employees to devise creative ideas. The results support the proposition that

supervisor behaviors, especially in supporting creativity, serves as a key

contextual factor that moderates the association between individual positive

psychological attributes and creative results (Kim et al., 2010). Receiving

substantial support for creativity enables employees to persist in their creative

endeavors. Consistently, Chapter 3 provides empirical evidence showing that

supervisor support for creativity activates the process by which employees

utilize PsyCap for creative performance, which responses to the scholarly debate

on the benefits of leader support on creativity (Baer & Oldham, 2006).

Furthermore, to have a comprehensive understanding on how leadership or

supervisor behaviors exactly result in creative and innovative outcomes,

Chapters 4 and 5 contextualize entrepreneurial leadership and servant leadership,

respectively, to provide consistent support for the argument that creativity-

specific leadership styles indeed play an important role in promoting creativity

and IWB. Specifically, because entrepreneurial leaders share similarities with

creative employees (e.g., risk taking and intuition), entrepreneurial leadership

highlights the match between leaders and followers. Thus, creativity-oriented

leadership is a substantial facilitator of creative achievements in the workplace.

Given the innovative results generated by employees, leaders should focus more

on followers. Thus, the results regarding servant leadership emphasize that

leaders who consider the needs and desires of subordinates may motivate

employees to engage in reciprocating behaviors (e.g., IWB). Although servant

Page 120: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 6

120

leadership has an indirect relationship with employee IWB through meaningful

work, the findings enrich the ongoing research focus on how follower-oriented

leadership styles fuel employees’ innovative results.

The abovementioned results highlight that creativity- and innovation-oriented

leadership or supervisory behavior not only leads to creativity and IWB at the

individual level but also acts as a crucial contingency factor that facilitates a

higher level of creativity from employees’ positive psychology. In the future,

studies are needed to examine how supervisory behavior fits together with other

contextual factors, especially opportunity-enhancing predictors, to generate the

highest level of creativity and innovation, such as whether supervisor

(supportive) behaviors and participative management practices (e.g.,

organizational structures) jointly accentuate the psychological characteristics-

creativity relationship. For example, when leaders encourage employees to voice

their perspective in producing creative ideas, organizations may be able to build

a comfortable environment and climate that further facilitates employees'

proclivity for expressing their ideas. Together, these factors may promote sense

of safety among employees to invest their energy in creative and innovative

endeavors (Liang, Huang, & Chen, 2013). In addition, to further develop the

arguments that leadership approaches address the underpinnings of creativity,

research in the future may explore whether other undeveloped leadership styles

that potentially motivate employees’ creative engagement may predict creativity

and IWB, such as participative leadership and visionary leadership. Take

participative leaders as an example. When participative leaders invite employees

to participate in the decision-making process, employees may not only develop a

strong sense of commitment to their organization but also feel an obligations to

provide reciprocating behavior in order to realize the organizational goals

(Huang, Iun, Liu, & Gong, 2010). Consequently, employees will engage more in

creative and innovative activities (De Jong & Den Hartog, 2010).

6.2.4 Well-designed jobs as a strengthening factor

The consideration of job characteristics is consistent with the applications of the

person-in-situation theory in the creativity literature. The results indicate that

organizations that enhance employee tasks along five dimensions (i.e., variety,

identity, significance, autonomy, and feedback) may create as a positive context

to moderate the influences of personal psychological attributes on creative

results. Specifically, in Chapter 2, the conceptual results indicate that job

characteristics that potentially provide opportunities for employees may interact

with motivation-enhancing practices (e.g., leadership) in positively influencing

Page 121: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 6

121

the psychology-creativity relationship to the greatest extent. Empirically,

Chapter 3 considers this entire construct and teases out the combined effects of

job characteristics, supervisor support for creativity, and PsyCap with respect to

the highest level of creativity.

Further understanding of the boundary conditions of job characteristics lies in

extending the situational leadership theory in creativity and innovation studies.

Consistently, leaders can work best to foster employee (innovative) results in

certain environments, such as autonomous jobs (Podsakoff & MacKenzie, 1997).

The research in Chapter 5 advances our understanding of this line of theoretical

arguments by focusing on the main aspect of job characteristics—job autonomy.

More specifically, higher job autonomy, rather than lower job autonomy,

significantly accentuates the indirect influences of servant leadership on IWB via

meaningful work. Thus, the research findings establish the importance of job

autonomy for employees’ creative process: an autonomous job design enhances

the influences of leadership and supervisory behavior on the associations

between positive psychology and creativity as well as IWB. That is, well-

designed tasks are key boundary conditions that determine the extent to which

leaders play effective roles in directing the process of idea generation and

implementation at workplace.

While the evidence on job characteristics provides a better understanding on

situational leadership theory in creativity and innovation research, the strength of

tasks has not been fully examined. Specifically, as the effect of creative and

innovative efforts on the features of tasks may vary, further clarification

regarding whether other facets of jobs, such as time pressure, task challenges,

and job demand and resources, may substitute for, neutralize, or enhance the

influences of leadership issues on creativity and innovation is required. For

example, although existing research has confirmed the dark side of leadership or

supervisory behaviors (e.g., paternalistic leadership), employees may proactively

respond to the disadvantages of leaders by utilizing the resources from jobs for a

better fit and thus for more creative contributions. In addition, considering that

job characteristics have multiple dimensions, more research distinguishing

between these dimensions may generate a clear understanding of their similar or

different effects in creativity research. Primarily, previous studies have yielded

inconsistent results regarding each dimension. For example, Tierney and Farmer

(2002) reported that having a well-managed job is insufficient to reinforce the

relationship between personal predictors (e.g., self-efficacy) and creativity, while

Bailey, Chen, and Dou (1997) found that Chinese employees prefer critical

Page 122: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 6

122

feedback (related to mistakes) (Bailey, Chen, & Dou, 1997), which may inhibit

their creativity (Amabile & Pillemer, 2012).

6.2.5 Creativity in a team environment

Consistent with the theoretical arguments that the team context generates a

strong influence on employee creativity, putting employee creativity into a team

context deepens scholars’ understanding regarding how to make team members

more creative. In Chapter 4, the delineation of top-down influences of team-level

creative efficacy beliefs on individual-level employee creativity goes beyond

extant research by considering the effects of creative self- and team efficacy

simultaneously. That is, the results indicate the similar positive motivational

effects of creative efficacy beliefs on employee creative results, especially the

cross-level effect of team efficacy. Considering the Chinese research background,

the findings provide strong evidence showing that employees in the collective

culture not only independently draw upon their own creative activities but also

are able to work creatively as part of a team. In addition, Chapter 4 answers to

the calls for a multilevel approach in organizational research by highlighting

how (entrepreneurial) leadership can facilitate the management of creativity

across levels. Concurrently, the results—specifically regarding how employee

and team creativity can be synchronized in a manner that is predicted by creative

efficacy beliefs—provide a more complete account of the motivational

mechanisms of multilevel creative efficacy beliefs in creativity research.

Previous research indicates that the proposed benefits of team properties (e.g.,

team creative efficacy) on employee (creative) outcomes can be highlighted in

the Chinese context (Schaubroeck, Lam, & Xie, 2000). Since Chinese

organizations with a collectivistic culture highlight the collective psychology

during creative processes (Shin & Zhou, 2007), team members may rely more on

teams to acquire more support. Therefore, team-level creative efficacy beliefs

may exert a greater influence on individual-level creative results. Evidently,

Chapter 4 attempts to address whether creative efficacy beliefs at multiple levels

may function more or less well together with respect to employee creativity.

Considering the creative self- and team-efficacy simultaneously, the results

indicate the similarities in the function of creative efficacy beliefs across levels

in stimulating employee creativity, as well as in mediating the relationship

between leadership and creativity.

The studies in this thesis include only one aspect of the team context that

influences employee creativity directly. Further investigations should focus on

Page 123: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 6

123

how team properties may interact with other creativity predictors in fostering

employee creative performance. For example, given that team-level factors may

influence the development of individual-level psychological variables through

complex interactional and reciprocal effects on individuals’ motivations, beliefs

and orientations (Gully, Incalcaterra, Joshi, & Beaubien, 2002), team creative

efficacy may activate the potential benefits of employee psychological states

(e.g., learning orientation) on creativity. Moreover, since team creativity is not

an aggregation of employee creativity (Pirola‐Merlo & Mann, 2004), to enrich

the incomplete phenomenon of creativity and innovation at multiple levels, more

studies are needed to investigate how creativity predictors from various levels

may simultaneously boost team and employee creativity. For example, although

servant leaders’ roles and responsibilities may vary at different organizational

levels (Ling, Lin, & Wu, 2016), Chapter 5 of this dissertation tested only the

influences of servant leadership at the individual level. It would thus be

interesting to study the dual-focused conceptualization of servant leadership (i.e.,

individual-focused and team-focused servant leadership), as well as whether they

are well suited for motivating creativity and IWB at both the individual and team

level.

6.3 Practical Implications

Our findings concerning the benefits of leaders and personal psychological

attributes have important practical implications for organizations in fostering

creativity and IWB among their employees and teams. First, as Chapter 2

generally conceptualizes the importance of enhancing abilities, organizations

should highly focus on selecting and training leaders and employees.

Regarding whether leaders display effective leadership styles, organizations

should select managers who exemplify their favorable attitudes and behaviors

towards creativity and innovation. Specifically, based on Chapter 4, companies

need to invite managers with entrepreneurial characteristics, such as taking risks,

building teams, and initiating opportunities for exploration and exploitation, that

fit with creative employees in order to foster creativity. Moreover, regarding the

development of employees’ and supervisors’ potential, organizations should

implement training aimed at increasing leaders’ managerial skills and employees’

creative attributes. Specifically, organizations should provide developments on

managers’ behaviors for providing various types of support for creativity and

innovation, such as frequent comminutions, encouragement, assistance and

resources in addressing problems. When IWB becomes increasing critical for

Page 124: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 6

124

organizations’ long-term success and innovation, they should develop leader

behaviors and a sense on caring and concern for employees’ needs and growth

rather than exercise their power on subordinates. Concurrently, HR departments

need to offer training and courses for employees to acquire abilities and

knowledge that may enhance their individual psychological characteristics (e.g.,

efficacy belief) for identifying and fixing difficulties. Additionally, organizations

can build a comfortable environment to enable employees to experience a sense

of excitement that fosters their positive psychological traits.

Second, given the direct influences of personal psychology on creative and

innovative results, organizations should create an environment where

employees and teams can develop their psychological attributes. Specifically,

since leadership and supervisory behavior can shape the development of

employees’ positive psychological attributes, leaders should create a desirable

environment, where they should set creative and innovative goals, build

confidence, and promote interactions, among others. For example, leaders

should clearly set acceptable creative and innovative goals for employees to help

them direct their efforts and keep looking forward to new accomplishments. As

Chapter 4 shows the potential effect of entrepreneurial leadership on creativity,

one of leaders’ creativity-facilitating behaviors is to build an inspiring vision that

fosters followers’ motivation and excitement to share and follow. Chapter 5 also

indicates that leaders should create a service context where employees perceive

the essence of being a servant to organizations, colleagues and customers; in this

way, they can will find that their work is more meaningful and thus engage in

more innovative work. Relatively, organizations have the responsibility to build

a friendly working environment that benefits teams’ and individuals’

psychological strengths, such as providing supports, encouraging challenges and

engagement, and offering opportunities for participation. For example, designing

systems of knowledge sharing may motivate employees to connect with their

surroundings in order to broaden their perspective in devising creative products.

Next, given that job characteristics determine how leaders influence followers’

psychology and creativity, organizations can design the tasks of their

employees in an effective way. Specifically, with regard to task significance,

organizations should not only assign significant jobs to employees but also

reinforce the linkage between organizational innovation and personal creative

work in order to highlight the importance and purpose of employees’ tasks.

Organizations should provide opportunities for employees to acquire various

abilities and skills, such as assigning various tasks to stimulate employees’

Page 125: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 6

125

learning skills and implementing personal development courses with their

employees to facilitate employees’ obtainment of new knowledge. To help

employees have a sense of task identity, organizations should broaden job

designs by assigning entire tasks to employees, which allows employees to

complete a project from the beginning to end. Developing group-oriented tasks

is also needed for organizations to strengthen workers identifications.

Organizations should also develop performance appraisal systems and encourage

employees to have performance appraisal themselves in order to obtain feedback

from their work completely and timely. More importantly, the results in Chapter

5 highlight the critical role of job autonomy. Since job autonomy not only

significantly motivates employees to have more responsibility and control in

their work but also influences how leaders foster employees outcomes, the

provision of autonomy should be guaranteed in order to provide employees with

more discretion to make decisions and to work on their own schedule.

Furthermore, considering the results supporting the significant role of team

properties, especially team creative efficacy, with respect to employee creative

achievements, organizations should organize efficacious teams. Specifically,

organizations need to appoint an entrepreneurial leader who makes plans,

coordinates team work, and is responsible for developing creative efficacy

among teams and employees. As discussed above, entrepreneurial leaders may

be an appropriate candidate for building teams to produce creative outcomes. In

addition, it is suitable to assemble the right group of employees to work together.

For example, the HR department can select employees with a high level of

creative efficacy beliefs to organize an effective team that may have a strong

sense of collective efficacy beliefs toward creativity. Meanwhile, team members

should be encouraged to share knowledge, information, and goal setting, which

is likely to strengthen team creative efficacy. The practices should include

allocating resources for creativity, progressing creative goal achievements,

encouraging individuals’ expression of opinions, exploring multiple strategies

and avoiding negative facets to leverage the potential benefits of team efficacy.

Finally, considering the combined effects of leaders, positive psychology, and

job design, organizations should implement a bundle of practices to facilitate

workplace creativity and innovation to the greatest extent. Generally, although

this thesis cannot provide all the specific practices in each bundle toward

creativity and innovation, the results above strongly inform the guidance that the

fit between practices (i.e., ability-, motivation-, and opportunity-enhancing

practices) may jointly promote creativity. That is, the HR department should

Page 126: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 6

126

consider providing effective practices that are oriented toward enhancing

employees’ ability, motivation and opportunities to participate, which together

promote their creative and innovative achievements. Based on extant research

and the studies in this thesis, some bundle practices can be suggested to help

organizations better manage employee creativity. For example, when HR

departments select employees embodying high levels of PsyCap, organizations

should also provide well-designed jobs to employees and develop managers

supportive behaviors in order to fully active employees’ ability to utilize their

positive psychological resources for creative performance.

6.4 Limitations

In addition to the limitations at the end of each chapter, I discuss the overarching

limitations that run through the current thesis in this section. First, all the three

empirical studies used a cross-sectional research design to examine the

hypotheses. Collecting data at a single point in time may raise questions of

causality. For example, although we follow the logic of using creativity and IWB

as outcomes, the possibility that employees who have produced a high level of

creative and innovative outcomes may not only stimulate leaders to provide

more specific leadership or behaviors to further increase their (employees’ and

teams’) creativity and IWB but also develop more positive psychological

characteristics that foster better results could still exist. Therefore, future

research should consider the longitudinal research design to establish the causal

directionality of findings in this thesis.

Next, although all the studies in this thesis examine Western-originated concepts

and theories (e.g., leadership, positive psychology, job characteristics, and

creativity and IWB) in the Chinese context, there are still some unaddressed

issues. First, the potential influences of Chinese factors were not considered in

the chapters. Specifically, since China is traditional characterized by hierarchies

(e.g., between leaders and followers and between organizations and both

employees and teams), there may be some influences on the ability of employees

and teams to produce outcomes, as well as on how leadership and positive

psychology affects the workplace. For example, scholars have found that leader-

member exchange (LMX) significantly influences creativity and innovation (Gu,

Tang, & Jiang, 2015), and organizational formalization and centralization

moderate the relationships between personal orientations and creativity (Hirst et

al., 2011). Thus, future research is encouraged to take specific contextual

characteristics into consideration. Second, although I argue that conducting

Page 127: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 6

127

studies in China may provide more evidence to examine the similarities and

differences between Western and Asian nations, the studies in these chapters are

weak in their ability to provide a comprehensive picture—there is no support for

the relevant findings in other Asian countries (e.g., Japan, and South Korea), nor

in comparisons between China and Western countries. To further address the

external validity, future studies are required to establish the generalizability of

our findings through conducting research in other non-Western countries on the

one hand, and through doing comparison studies to replicate our findings in

different Asian and Western countries on the other hand.

Finally, although the conceptual study (Chapter 2) provides an important

information to guide the following research (Chapter 3-5) on the topic of

leadership and positive psychology in creativity and IWB research, the lack of

qualitative research indeed limits the comprehensiveness of the results of this

thesis. Theoretically, qualitative and quantitative approaches are complementary

in extending organizational behavior studies (Cassell & Symon, 2004). Although

the empirical research mostly provides strong evidence to prove the theories,

qualitative methods are the baseline. In this thesis, specifically, the three

quantitative studies (Chapter 3-5) are based on solid theory, and their

applications, especially with respect to entrepreneurial leadership, may be

justified to a greater extent under the conditions of qualitative investigations.

Thus, it would be interesting to conduct qualitative studies to further establish

our theoretical logic and provide more fundamental support for the topic of

leadership and supervisory behaviors, together with positive psychological

factors facilitating creativity and IWB.

6.5 Conclusions

In short, this dissertation sets out to simultaneously explore how organizations

and employees themselves awaken creativity and innovation in the workplace.

By examining the influences of organizational HRM, leaders, job design, teams,

and individual (or team) psychological characteristics on creativity, the chapters

suggest that the bundled organizational HRM practices may effectively boost

employee creativity. Regarding to the influences of leaders, the results

demonstrate that entrepreneurial and servant leadership significantly contributes

to creativity and IWB at the individual and team level by fostering creative

efficacy beliefs and meaningful work, respectively, while supervisor support for

creativity strengthens the link between positive psychology and employee

creativity. Furthermore, job characteristics represent a key boundary condition

Page 128: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Chapter 6

128

that enhances the influences of leadership or supervisory behavior on positive

psychology towards higher levels of creativity. Overall, the research findings

offer opportunities for further research on the topic of integrating organizational

and employee predictors in the creativity literature.

Page 129: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Reference

129

References

Agars, M. D., Kaufman, J. C., & Locke, T. R. (2008). Social influence and

creativity in organizations: A multilevel lens for theory, research, and

practice. Multi-level issues in organizational innovation, 3-62.

Agarwal, P., & Farndale, E. (2017). High‐performance work systems and

creativity implementation: the role of psychological capital and

psychological safety. Human Resource Management Journal.

Aiken, L. S., West, S. G., & Reno, R. R. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing

and interpreting interactions. New York: Sage.

Ajzen, I. (2005). Attitudes, personality, and behavior: McGraw-Hill Education

(UK).

Aleksic, D., Cerne, M., Dysvik, A., & Skerlavaj, M. (2016). I want to be creative,

but horizontal ellipsis preference for creativity, perceived clear outcome

goals, work enjoyment, and creative performance. European journal of

work and organizational psychology, 25(3), 363-383.

Alge, B. J., Ballinger, G. A., Tangirala, S., & Oakley, J. L. (2006). Information

privacy in organizations: empowering creative and extrarole

performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91(1), 221-232.

Allan, B. A., Autin, K. L., & Duffy, R. D. (2014). Examining social class and

work meaning within the psychology of working framework. Journal of

Career Assessment, 22(4), 543-561.

Amabile, T. (2012). Componential theory of creativity: Harvard Business School.

Amabile, T. M. (1993). Motivational synergy: Toward new conceptualizations

of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in the workplace. Human Resource

Management Review, 3(3), 185-201.

Amabile, T. M. (1996a). Creativity and innovation in organizations (Vol. 5):

Harvard Business School Boston.

Amabile, T. M. (1996b). Creativity in context: Update to" the social psychology

of creativity". Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Amabile, T. M., Barsade, S. G., Mueller, J. S., & Staw, B. M. (2005). Affect and

creativity at work. Administrative Science Quarterly, 50(3), 367-403.

Amabile, T. M., Conti, R., Coon, H., Lazenby, J., & Herron, M. (1996).

Assessing the work environment for creativity. Academy of

Management Journal, 39(5), 1154-1184.

Amabile, T. M., & Pillemer, J. (2012). Perspectives on the Social Psychology of

Creativity. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 46(1), 3-15.

Page 130: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Reference

130

Amabile, T. M., & Pratt, M. G. (2016). The dynamic componential model of

creativity and innovation in organizations: Making progress, making

meaning. Research in Organizational Behavior, 36, 157-183.

Anderson, J. C., & Gerbing, D. W. (1988). Structural equation modeling in

practice: A review and recommended two-step approach. Psychological

Bulletin, 103(3), 411-423.

Anderson, N., Potočnik, K., & Zhou, J. (2014). Innovation and creativity in

organizations: A state-of-the-science review, prospective commentary,

and guiding framework. Journal of Management, 40(5), 1297-1333.

Appelbaum, E. (2000). Manufacturing advantage: Why high-performance work

systems pay off: Cornell University Press.

Arnold, K. A., Turner, N., Barling, J., Kelloway, E. K., & McKee, M. C. (2007).

Transformational leadership and psychological well-being: the

mediating role of meaningful work. Journal of Occupational Health

Psychology, 12(3), 193-203.

Arnoux-Nicolas, C., Sovet, L., Lhotellier, L., Di Fabio, A., & Bernaud, J.-L.

(2016). Perceived Work Conditions and Turnover Intentions: The

Mediating Role of Meaning of Work. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1-9.

Avey, J. B. (2014). The Left Side of Psychological Capital New Evidence on the

Antecedents of PsyCap. Journal of Leadership & Organizational

Studies, 21(2), 141-149.

Avey, J. B., Palanski, M. E., & Walumbwa, F. O. (2011). When leadership goes

unnoticed: The moderating role of follower self-esteem on the

relationship between ethical leadership and follower behavior. Journal

of Business Ethics, 98(4), 573-582.

Avey, J. B., Richmond, F. L., & Nixon, D. R. (2012). Leader Positivity and

Follower Creativity: An Experimental Analysis. Journal of Creative

Behavior, 46(2), 99-118.

Avolio, B. J. (2007). Promoting more integrative strategies for leadership theory-

building. American Psychologist, 62(1), 25-33.

Avolio, B. J., Walumbwa, F. O., & Weber, T. J. (2009). Leadership: Current

theories, research, and future directions. Annual Review Of Psychology,

60, 421-449.

Baas, M., De Dreu, C. K. W., & Nijstad, B. A. (2008). A meta-analysis of 25

years of mood-creativity research: Hedonic tone, activation, or

regulatory focus? Psychological Bulletin, 134(6), 779-806.

Baer, M. (2010). The strength-of-weak-ties perspective on creativity: a

comprehensive examination and extension. Journal of Applied

Psychology, 95(3), 592-601.

Page 131: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Reference

131

Baer, M., & Oldham, G. R. (2006). The curvilinear relation between experienced

creative time pressure and creativity: moderating effects of openness to

experience and support for creativity. Journal of Applied Psychology,

91(4), 963-970.

Baer, M., Oldham, G. R., & Cummings, A. (2003). Rewarding creativity: when

does it really matter? The Leadership Quarterly, 14(4), 569-586.

Baer, M., Oldham, G. R., Jacobsohn, G. C., & Hollingshead, A. B. (2008). The

personality composition of teams and creativity: The moderating role of

team creative confidence. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 42(4),

255-282.

Bagheri, A., & Pihie, Z. A. L. (2011). Entrepreneurial leadership: towards a

model for learning and development. Human Resource Development

International, 14(4), 447-463.

Bai, X., Li, Y., & Lin, L. (2016). Caring for others matters: Flexibility and

persistence as the dual pathways whereby intrinsic and prosocial

motivations enhance creativity. International Journal of Psychology,

51(1), 745.

Bailey, J. R., Chen, C. C., & Dou, S. G. (1997). Conceptions of self and

performance-related feedback in the US, Japan and China. Journal of

International Business Studies, 28(3), 605-625.

Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive

theory: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Bandura, A. (1991). Social cognitive theory of self-regulation. Organizational

behavior and human decision processes, 50(2), 248-287.

Bandura, A. (1997). Collective efficacy. Self-efficacy: The exercise of control,

477-525.

Bandura, A. (2000). Cultivate self-efficacy for personal and organizational

effectiveness. Handbook of principles of organization behavior, 2, 11-

21.

Banks, G. C., McCauley, K. D., Gardner, W. L., & Guler, C. E. (2016). A meta-

analytic review of authentic and transformational leadership: A test for

redundancy. The Leadership Quarterly, 27(4), 634-652.

Barbuto, J. E., & Wheeler, D. W. (2006). Scale development and construct

clarification of servant leadership. Group & Organization Management,

31(3), 300-326.

Barrick, M. R., Mount, M. K., & Li, N. (2013). The theory of purposeful work

behavior: The role of personality, higher-order goals, and job

characteristics. Academy of Management Review, 38(1), 132-153.

Bass, B. M. (2000). The future of leadership in learning organizations. Journal

of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 7(3), 18-40.

Page 132: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Reference

132

Bayo-Moriones, A., & Galdon-Sanchez, J. E. (2010). Multinational companies

and high-performance work practices in the Spanish manufacturing

industry. The International Journal of Human Resource Management,

21(8), 1248-1271.

Bello‐Pintado, A. (2015). Bundles of HRM practices and performance: empirical

evidence from a Latin American context. Human Resource

Management Journal, 25(3), 311-330.

Binnewies, C., & Wörnlein, S. C. (2011). What makes a creative day? A diary

study on the interplay between affect, job stressors, and job control.

Journal of Organizational Behavior, 32(4), 589-607.

Birdi, K., Leach, D., & Magadley, W. (2016). The Relationship of Individual

Capabilities and Environmental Support with Different Facets of

Designers' Innovative Behavior. Journal of Product Innovation

Management, 33(1), 19-35.

Bledow, R., Rosing, K., & Frese, M. (2013). A dynamic perspective on affect

and creativity. Academy of Management Journal, 56(2), 432-450.

Bliese, P. D. (2000). Within-group agreement, non-independence, and reliability:

Implications for data aggregation and analysis.

Blumberg, M., & Pringle, C. D. (1982). The missing opportunity in

organizational research: Some implications for a theory of work

performance. Academy of management review, 7(4), 560-569.

Boon, C., Belschak, F. D., Den Hartog, D. N., & Pijnenburg, M. (2014).

Perceived Human Resource Management Practices. Journal of

Personnel Psychology, 13(1), 21-33.

Bos-Nehles, A. C., Renkema, M., & Janssen, M. (2017). HRM and innovative

work behaviour: A systematic literature review. Personnel Review,

46(7), 1228-1253.

Bos‐Nehles, A. C., Van Riemsdijk, M. J., & Kees Looise, J. (2013). Employee

Perceptions of Line Management Performance: Applying the AMO

Theory to Explain the Effectiveness of Line Managers' HRM

Implementation. Human Resource Management, 52(6), 861-877.

Bos-Nehles, A. C., & Veenendaal, A. A. (2017). Perceptions of HR practices

and innovative work behavior: the moderating effect of an innovative

climate. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 1-

23.

Boselie, P. (2010). High performance work practices in the health care sector: a

Dutch case study. International Journal of Manpower, 31(1), 42-58.

Boselie, P., Dietz, G., & Boon, C. (2005). Commonalities and contradictions in

HRM and performance research. Human Resource Management

Journal, 15(3), 67-94.

Page 133: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Reference

133

Boxall, P., & Purcell, J. (2011). Strategy and human resource management.

Palgrave Macmillan.

Brewer, M. B., & Gardner, W. (1996). Who is this" We"? Levels of collective

identity and self representations. Journal of personality and social

psychology, 71(1), 83-93.

Brislin, R. W. (1980). Translation and content analysis of oral and written

material. Handbook of cross-cultural psychology, 2(2), 349-444.

Brislin, R. W. (1986). Research instruments. Field methods in cross-cultural

research, 8, 159-162.

Burt, R. S., Kilduff, M., & Tasselli, S. (2013). Social network analysis:

Foundations and frontiers on advantage. Annual Review Of Psychology,

64, 527-547.

Byron, K., & Khazanchi, S. (2012). Rewards and creative performance: A meta-

analytic test of theoretically derived hypotheses. Psychological bulletin,

138(4), 809-830.

Campion, M. A., Medsker, G. J., & Higgs, A. C. (1993). Relations between

work group characteristics and effectiveness: Implications for designing

effective work groups. Personnel Psychology, 46(4), 823-847.

Carless, S. A., Wearing, A. J., & Mann, L. (2000). A short measure of

transformational leadership. Journal of Business and Psychology, 14(3),

389-405.

Carmeli, A., McKay, A. S., & Kaufman, J. C. (2014). Emotional intelligence and

creativity: The mediating role of generosity and vigor. The Journal of

Creative Behavior, 48(4), 290-309.

Carmeli, A., Reiter-Palmon, R., & Ziv, E. (2010). Inclusive leadership and

employee involvement in creative tasks in the workplace: The

mediating role of psychological safety. Creativity Research Journal,

22(3), 250-260.

Carmeli, A., & Schaubroeck, J. (2007). The influence of leaders' and other

referents' normative expectations on individual involvement in creative

work. The Leadership Quarterly, 18(1), 35-48.

Cassell, C., & Symon, G. (2004). Essential guide to qualitative methods in

organizational research: Sage.

Chang, S., Jia, L., Takeuchi, R., & Cai, Y. (2014). Do high-commitment work

systems affect creativity? A multilevel combinational approach to

employee creativity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 99(4), 665-680.

Chen, G. & Bliese, P. G. (2002). The role of different levels of leadership in

predicting self-and collective efficacy: evidence for discontinuity.

Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(3), 549-556.

Page 134: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Reference

134

Chen, H. M. (2007). Entrepreneurial leadership and new ventures: Creativity in

entrepreneurial teams. Creativity and Innovation Management, 16(3),

239-249.

Chen, G. & Kanfer, R. (2006). Toward a systems theory of motivated behavior

in work teams. Research in Organizational Behavior, 27, 223-267.

Chen, A. S. Y., & Hou, Y. H. (2016). The effects of ethical leadership, voice

behavior and climates for innovation on creativity: A moderated

mediation examination. The Leadership Quarterly, 27(1), 1-13.

Chen, C. J., Shih, H. A., & Yeh, Y. C. (2011). Individual initiative, skill variety,

and creativity: The moderating role of knowledge specificity and

creative resources. The International Journal of Human Resource

Management, 22(17), 3447-3461.

Chen, G., Farh, J. L., Campbell-Bush, E. M., Wu, Z., & Wu, X. (2013). Teams

as innovative systems: Multilevel motivational antecedents of

innovation in R&D teams. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(6), 1018-

1027.

Chen, G., & Kanfer, R. (2006). Toward a systems theory of motivated behavior

in work teams. Research in Organizational Behavior, 27, 223-267.

Chen, M. H. (2007). Entrepreneurial leadership and new ventures: Creativity in

entrepreneurial teams. Creativity and Innovation Management, 16(3),

239-249.

Chen, Z., Zhu, J., & Zhou, M. (2015). How does a servant leader fuel the service

fire? A multilevel model of servant leadership, individual self identity,

group competition climate, and customer service performance. Journal

of Applied Psychology, 100(2), 511-521.

Chen, Z. X., Tsui, A. S., & Farh, J. L. (2002). Loyalty to supervisor vs.

organizational commitment: Relationships to employee performance in

China. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 75(3),

339-356.

Cheng, C. Y., Jiang, D. Y., Cheng, B. S., Riley, J. H., & Jen, C. K. (2015). When

do subordinates commit to their supervisors? Different effects of

perceived supervisor integrity and support on Chinese and American

employees. The Leadership Quarterly, 26(1), 81-97.

Chiniara, M., & Bentein, K. (2016). Linking servant leadership to individual

performance: Differentiating the mediating role of autonomy,

competence and relatedness need satisfaction. The Leadership

Quarterly, 27(1), 124-141.

Choi, J. N. (2004). Individual and contextual predictors of creative performance:

The mediating role of psychological processes. Creativity Research

Journal, 16(2-3), 187-199.

Page 135: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Reference

135

Choi, J. N., Anderson, T. A., & Veillette, A. (2009). Contextual inhibitors of

employee creativity in organizations the insulating role of creative

ability. Group & Organization Management, 34(3), 330-357.

Chua, R. Y. (2013). The costs of ambient cultural disharmony: Indirect

intercultural conflicts in social environment undermine creativity.

Academy of Management Journal, 56(6), 1545-1577.

Coelho, F., & Augusto, M. (2010). Job characteristics and the creativity of

frontline service employees. Journal of Service Research, 13(4), 426-

438.

Cohen-Meitar, R., Carmeli, A., & Waldman, D. A. (2009). Linking

meaningfulness in the workplace to employee creativity: The

intervening role of organizational identification and positive

psychological experiences. Creativity Research Journal, 21(4), 361-375.

Covin, J. G., & Slevin, D. P. (1988). The influence of organization structure on

the utility of an entrepreneurial top management style. Journal of

Management studies, 25(3), 217-234.

Covin, J. G., & Slevin, D. P. (1991). A conceptual model of entrepreneurship as

firm behavior. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 16(1), 7-25.

CsikszentmihĂĄlyi, M. (1990). The domain of creativity. In M. A. Runco & R.

S. Albert (Eds.), Theories of creativity (pp. 190–212). Newbury Park,

CA: Sage.

Cummings, L. L., & Schwab, D. P. (1973). Performance in organizations:

Determinants & appraisal: Scott, Foresman Glenview, IL.

Cuyper, N., & Witte, H. (2006). The impact of job insecurity and contract type

on attitudes, well‐being and behavioural reports: a psychological

contract perspective. Journal of Occupational and Organizational

Psychology, 79(3), 395-409.

Davis, M. A. (2009). Understanding the relationship between mood and

creativity: A meta-analysis. Organizational Behavior and Human

Decision Processes, 108(1), 25-38.

Dawson, J. F., & Richter, A. W. (2006). Probing three-way interactions in

moderated multiple regression: development and application of a slope

difference test. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91(4), 917-926.

De Clercq, D., Mohammad Rahman, Z., & Belausteguigoitia, I. (2015). Task

conflict and employee creativity: The critical roles of learning

orientation and goal congruence. Human Resource Management, 56(1),

93-109.

De Dreu, C. K., Baas, M., & Nijstad, B. A. (2008). Hedonic tone and activation

level in the mood-creativity link: toward a dual pathway to creativity

model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94(5), 739-756.

Page 136: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Reference

136

De Dreu, C. K., & Nauta, A. (2009). Self-interest and other-orientation in

organizational behavior: implications for job performance, prosocial

behavior, and personal initiative. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(4),

913-926.

De Jong, J., & Den Hartog, D. (2010). Measuring innovative work behaviour.

Creativity and Innovation Management, 19(1), 23-36.

De Stobbeleir, K. E., Ashford, S. J., & Buyens, D. (2011). Self-regulation of

creativity at work: The role of feedback-seeking behavior in creative

performance. Academy of Management Journal, 54(4), 811-831.

DeChurch, L. A., Hiller, N. J., Murase, T., Doty, D., & Salas, E. (2010).

Leadership across levels: Levels of leaders and their levels of impact.

The Leadership Quarterly, 21(6), 1069-1085.

Deci, E. L., Connell, J. P., & Ryan, R. M. (1989). Self-determination in a work

organization. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74(4), 580-590.

Den Hartog, D. N., & Belschak, F. D. (2012). When does transformational

leadership enhance employee proactive behavior? The role of autonomy

and role breadth self-efficacy. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(1),

194-202.

Diener, E., Larsen, R. J., & Emmons, R. A. (1984). Person x situation

interactions - choice of situations and congruence response models.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 47(3), 580-592.

Dik, B. J., Duffy, R. D., & Eldridge, B. M. (2009). Calling and vocation in

career counseling: Recommendations for promoting meaningful work.

Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 40(6), 625-632.

Dollinger, S. J., Urban, K. K., & James, T. A. (2004). Creativity and openness:

Further validation of two creative product measures. Creativity

Research Journal, 16(1), 35-47.

Dul, J., Ceylan, C., & Jaspers, F. (2011). Knowledge workers' creativity and the

role of the physical work environment. Human Resource Management,

50(6), 715-734.

Edwards, J. R., & Lambert, L. S. (2007). Methods for integrating moderation

and mediation: a general analytical framework using moderated path

analysis. Psychological Methods, 12(1), 1-22.

Eisenberger, R., & Aselage, J. (2009). Incremental effects of reward on

experienced performance pressure: Positive outcomes for intrinsic

interest and creativity. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 30(1), 95-

117.

Eisenberger, R., Pierce, W. D., & Cameron, J. (1999). Effects of reward on

intrinsic motivation—Negative, neutral, and positive: Comment on

Deci, Koestner, and Ryan. Psychology Bulletin, 125, 677-691.

Page 137: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Reference

137

Farmer, S. M., Tierney, P., & Kung-McIntyre, K. (2003). Employee creativity in

Taiwan: An application of role identity theory. Academy of

Management Journal, 46(5), 618-630.

Farr, J. L., & Tran, V. (2008). Linking innovation and creativity with human

resources strategies and practices: A matter of fit or flexibility?

Research in Multi Level Issues, 7, 377-392.

Florida, R., & Goodnight, J. (2005). Managing for creativity. Harvard Business

Review, 83(7), 124-132.

Ford, C. M. (1996). A theory of individual creative action in multiple social

domains. Academy of Management Review, 21(4), 1112-1142.

Friedman, R. S. (2009). Reinvestigating the effects of promised reward on

creativity. Creativity Research Journal, 21(2-3), 258-264.

Gagné, M., & Deci, E. L. (2005a). Self-determination theory and work

motivation. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 26(4), 331-362.

George, J. M. (2007). 9 Creativity in Organizations. The Academy of

Management Annals, 1(1), 439-477.

George, J. M., & Zhou, J. (2001). When openness to experience and

conscientiousness are related to creative behavior: an interactional

approach. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(3), 513-524.

George, J. M., & Zhou, J. (2002). Understanding when bad moods foster

creativity and good ones don't: the role of context and clarity of feelings.

Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(4), 687-697.

George, J. M., & Zhou, J. (2007). Dual tuning in a supportive context: Joint

contributions of positive mood, negative mood, and supervisory

behaviors to employee creativity. Academy of Management Journal,

50(3), 605-622.

Gerhart, B. (2007). Horizontal and vertical fit in human resource systems.

Perspectives on organizational fit, 317-348.

Gibson, C. B., & Earley, P. C. (2007). Collective Cognition in Action:

Accumulation, Interaction, Examination, and Accommodation in the

Development and Operation of Group Efficacy Beliefs in the

Workplace. Academy of management review, 32(2), 438-458.

Glazer, S. (2006). Social support across cultures. International Journal of

Intercultural Relations, 30(5), 605-622.

Gong, Y., Cheung, S. Y., Wang, M., & Huang, J. C. (2012). Unfolding the

proactive process for creativity integration of the employee proactivity,

information exchange, and psychological safety perspectives. Journal

of Management, 38(5), 1611-1633.

Page 138: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Reference

138

Gong, Y., Huang, J. C., & Farh, J. L. (2009). Employee learning orientation,

transformational leadership, and employee creativity: The mediating

role of employee creative self-efficacy. Academy of Management

Journal, 52(4), 765-778.

Gong, Y., Kim, T. Y., Lee, D. R., & Zhu, J. (2013). A multilevel model of team

goal orientation, information exchange, and creativity. Academy of

Management Journal, 56(3), 827-851.

Gould-Williams, J. S., & Gatenby, M. (2010). The effects of organizational

context and teamworking activities on performance outcomes: a study

conducted in England local government. Public Management Review,

12(6), 759-787.

Gouldner, A. W. (1960). The norm of reciprocity: A preliminary statement.

American Sociological Review, 161-178.

Grant, A. M. (2008). The significance of task significance: Job performance

effects, relational mechanisms, and boundary conditions. Journal of

Applied Psychology, 93(1), 108-124.

Grant, A. M. (2012). Leading with meaning: Beneficiary contact, prosocial

impact, and the performance effects of transformational leadership.

Academy of Management Journal, 55(2), 458-476.

Grant, A. M., & Berry, J. W. (2011). The necessity of others is the mother of

invention: Intrinsic and prosocial motivations, perspective taking, and

creativity. Academy of Management Journal, 54(1), 73-96.

Greenleaf, R. K., & Spears, L. C. (2002). Servant leadership: A journey into the

nature of legitimate power and greatness: Paulist Press.

Griffin, R. W., Welsh, A., & Moorhead, G. (1981). Perceived task characteristics

and employee performance: A literature review. Academy of

Management Review, 6(4), 655-664.

Gu, Q., Tang, T. L. P., & Jiang, W. (2015). Does moral leadership enhance

employee creativity? Employee identification with leader and leader–

member exchange (LMX) in the Chinese context. Journal of Business

Ethics, 126(3), 513-529.

Guay, F., Vallerand, R. J., & Blanchard, C. (2000). On the assessment of

situational intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: The Situational

Motivation Scale (SIMS). Motivation and Emotion, 24(3), 175-213.

Guest, D., Conway, N., & Dewe, P. (2004). Using sequential tree analysis to

search for ‘bundles’ of HR practices. Human Resource Management

Journal, 14(1), 79-96.

Gully, S. M., Incalcaterra, K. A., Joshi, A., & Beaubien, J. M. (2002). A meta-

analysis of team-efficacy, potency, and performance: interdependence

Page 139: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Reference

139

and level of analysis as moderators of observed relationships. Journal

of Applied Psychology, 87(5), 819-832.

Gupta, V., MacMillan, I. C., & Surie, G. (2004). Entrepreneurial leadership:

developing and measuring a cross-cultural construct. Journal of

Business Venturing, 19(2), 241-260.

Guzzo, R. A., Yost, P. R., Campbell, R. J., & Shea, G. P. (1993). Potency in

groups: Articulating a construct. British Journal of Social Psychology,

32(1), 87-106.

Hackman, J. R., & Oldham, G. R. (1975). Development of the job diagnostic

survey. Journal of Applied Psychology, 60(2), 159-170.

Hackman, J. R., & Oldham, G. R. (1976). Motivation through the design of work:

Test of a theory. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance,

16(2), 250-279.

Hamilton, F. (2008). Servant leadership. Leadership: The key concepts, 146-150.

Hammond, M. M., Neff, N. L., Farr, J. L., Schwall, A. R., & Zhao, X. (2011).

Predictors of individual-level innovation at work: A meta-analysis.

Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 5(1), 90-105.

Han, Y., Kakabadse, N. K., & Kakabadse, A. (2010). Servant leadership in the

People's Republic of China: A case study of the public sector. Journal

of Management Development, 29(3), 265-281.

Harman, H. H. (1976). Modern factor analysis: University of Chicago Press.

Hayes, A. F. (2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional

process analysis: A regression-based approach: Guilford Press.

Hennessey, B. A., & Amabile, T. M. (2010). Creativity. Annual Review of

Psychology, 61, 569-598.

Hirst, G., Van Dick, R., & Van Knippenberg, D. (2009). A social identity

perspective on leadership and employee creativity. Journal of

Organizational Behavior, 30(7), 963-982.

Hirst, G., Van Knippenberg, D., Chen, C. H., & Sacramento, C. A. (2011). How

does bureaucracy impact individual creativity? A cross-level

investigation of team contextual influences on goal orientation–

creativity relationships. Academy of Management Journal, 54(3), 624-

641.

Hirst, G., Van Knippenberg, D., & Zhou, J. (2009). A cross-level perspective on

employee creativity: Goal orientation, team learning behavior, and

individual creativity. Academy of Management Journal, 52(2), 280-293.

Hitt, M. A., Ireland, R. D., Sirmon, D. G., & Trahms, C. A. (2011). Strategic

entrepreneurship: creating value for individuals, organizations, and

society. The Academy of Management Perspectives, 25(2), 57-75.

Page 140: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Reference

140

Ho, J., & Nesbit, P. L. (2014). Self-Leadership in a Chinese Context Work

Outcomes and the Moderating Role of Job Autonomy. Group &

Organization Management, 39(4), 389-415.

Hoever, I. J., Van Knippenberg, D., Van Ginkel, W. P., & Barkema, H. G.

(2012). Fostering team creativity: perspective taking as key to

unlocking diversity's potential. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(5),

982-996.

Holten, A. L., & Bøllingtoft, A. (2015). Is it only good? The dark side of

leadership for creativity and innovation. Journal of Leadership Studies,

9(3), 50-52.

Hu, L. t., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance

structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives.

Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6(1), 1-55.

Huang, L., & Luthans, F. (2015). Toward better understanding of the learning

goal orientation-creativity relationship: The role of positive

psychological capital. Applied Psychology, 64(2), 444-472.

Huang, X., Iun, J., Liu, A., & Gong, Y. (2010). Does participative leadership

enhance work performance by inducing empowerment or trust? The

differential effects on managerial and non‐managerial subordinates.

Journal of Organizational Behavior, 31(1), 122-143.

Hülsheger, U. R., Anderson, N., & Salgado, J. F. (2009). Team-level predictors

of innovation at work: a comprehensive meta-analysis spanning three

decades of research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(5), 1128-1145.

Humphrey, S. E., Nahrgang, J. D., & Morgeson, F. P. (2007). Integrating

motivational, social, and contextual work design features: a meta-

analytic summary and theoretical extension of the work design

literature. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(5), 1332-1356.

Huselid, M. A. (1995). The impact of human resource management practices on

turnover, productivity, and corporate financial performance. Academy

of Management Journal, 38(3), 635-672.

Idaszak, J. R., & Drasgow, F. (1987). A revision of the Job Diagnostic Survey:

Elimination of a measurement artifact. Journal of Applied Psychology,

72(1), 69-74.

Ireland, R. D., Hitt, M. A., & Sirmon, D. G. (2003). A model of strategic

entrepreneurship: The construct and its dimensions. Journal of

Management, 29(6), 963-989.

Janssen, O. (2000). Job demands, perceptions of effort‐reward fairness and

innovative work behaviour. Journal of Occupational and

Organizational Psychology, 73(3), 287-302.

Page 141: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Reference

141

Janssen, O., & Van Yperen, N. W. (2004). Employees' goal orientations, the

quality of leader-member exchange, and the outcomes of job

performance and job satisfaction. Academy of Management Journal,

47(3), 368-384.

Jaussi, K. S., & Dionne, S. D. (2003). Leading for creativity: The role of

unconventional leader behavior. The Leadership Quarterly, 14(4), 475-

498.

Jaussi, K. S., Randel, A. E., & Dionne, S. D. (2007). I am, I think I can, and I do:

The role of personal identity, self-efficacy, and cross-application of

experiences in creativity at work. Creativity Research Journal, 19(2-3),

247-258.

Jiang, J., Wang, S., & Zhao, S. (2012). Does HRM facilitate employee creativity

and organizational innovation? A study of Chinese firms. The

International Journal of Human Resource Management, 23(19), 4025-

4047.

Jiang, K., Lepak, D. P., Hu, J., & Baer, J. C. (2012). How does human resource

management influence organizational outcomes? A meta-analytic

investigation of mediating mechanisms. Academy of Management

Journal, 55(6), 1264-1294.

Judge, T. A., Bono, J. E., & Locke, E. A. (2000). Personality and job satisfaction:

the mediating role of job characteristics. Journal of Applied Psychology,

85(2), 237-249.

Jung, D. I., & Avolio, B. J. (2000). Opening the black box: An experimental

investigation of the mediating effects of trust and value congruence on

transformational and transactional leadership. Journal of

Organizational Behavior, 21(8), 949-964.

Jung, D. I., & Sosik, J. J. (1999). Effects of group characteristics on work group

performance: A longitudinal investigation. Group Dynamics: Theory,

Research, and Practice, 3(4), 279-290.

Kalshoven, K., & Boon, C. T. (2012). Ethical leadership, employee well-being,

and helping. Journal of Personnel Psychology, 11, 60-68.

Kark, R., & Shamir, B. 2002. The dual effect of transformational leadership:

Priming relational and collective selves and further effects on followers.

In B. J. Avolio & F. J. Yammarino (Eds.), Transformational and

charismatic leadership: 67-91. Oxford, UK: Elsevier.

Kashdan, T. B., Rose, P., & Fincham, F. D. (2004). Curiosity and exploration:

Facilitating positive subjective experiences and personal growth

opportunities. Journal of Personality Assessment, 82(3), 291-305.

Kaufmann, G., & Vosburg, S. K. (2002). The effects of mood on early and late

idea production. Creativity Research Journal, 14(3-4), 317-330.

Page 142: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Reference

142

Kerr, S., & Jermier, J. M. (1978). Substitutes for leadership: Their meaning and

measurement. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance,

22(3), 375-403.

Khazanchi, S., & Masterson, S. S. (2011). Who and what is fair matters: A

multi‐foci social exchange model of creativity. Journal of

Organizational Behavior, 32(1), 86-106.

Kim, K. Y., Pathak, S., & Werner, S. (2015). When do international human

capital enhancing practices benefit the bottom line? An ability,

motivation, and opportunity perspective. Journal of International

Business Studies, 46(7), 784-805.

Kim, T. Y., Hon, A. H., & Lee, D. R. (2010). Proactive personality and

employee creativity: The effects of job creativity requirement and

supervisor support for creativity. Creativity Research Journal, 22(1),

37-45.

Kim, T. Y., Cable, D. M., Kim, S. P., & Wang, J. (2009). Emotional competence

and work performance: The mediating effect of proactivity and the

moderating effect of job autonomy. Journal of Organizational Behavior,

30(7), 983-1000.

Klijn, M., & Tomic, W. (2010). A review of creativity within organizations from

a psychological perspective. Journal of Management Development,

29(4), 322-343.

Knies, E., & Leisink, P. (2014). Linking people management and extra‐role

behaviour: results of a longitudinal study. Human Resource

Management Journal, 24(1), 57-76.

Kozlowski, S. W., & Klein, K. J. (2000). A multilevel approach to theory and

research in organizations: Contextual, temporal, and emergent

processes.

Kristof‐Brown, A. L., Zimmerman, R. D., & Johnson, E. C. (2005).

Consequences of individuals'fit at work: A meta-analysis of person–job,

person–organization, person–group, and person–supervisor fit.

Personnel Psychology, 58(2), 281-342.

Kroon, B., Van De Voorde, K., & Timmers, J. (2013). High performance work

practices in small firms: a resource-poverty and strategic decision-

making perspective. Small Business Economics, 41(1), 71-91.

Kuratko, D. F. (2007). Entrepreneurial leadership in the 21st century: Guest

editor's perspective. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies,

13(4), 1-11.

Langfred, C. W., & Moye, N. A. (2004). Effects of task autonomy on

performance: an extended model considering motivational,

Page 143: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Reference

143

informational, and structural mechanisms. Journal of Applied

Psychology, 89(6), 934-945.

LeBreton, J. M., & Senter, J. L. (2007). Answers to 20 questions about interrater

reliability and interrater agreement. Organizational research methods,

11(4), 815-852.

Leitch, C. M., & Volery, T. (2017). Entrepreneurial leadership: Insights and

directions. International Small Business Journal, 35(2), 147-156.

Lepak, D. P., Liao, H., Chung, Y., & Harden, E. E. (2006). A conceptual review

of human resource management systems in strategic human resource

management research. Research in personnel and human resources

management, 25, 217-271.

Li, G., Shang, Y., Liu, H., & Xi, Y. (2014). Differentiated transformational

leadership and knowledge sharing: A cross-level investigation.

European Management Journal, 32(4), 554-563.

Liang, J., Huang, X., & Chen, Z. X. (2013). Why offering participative

opportunities does not necessarily facilitate speaking up. Paper

presented at the Academy of Management Proceedings.

Liao, H., Liu, D., & Loi, R. (2010). Looking at both sides of the social exchange

coin: A social cognitive perspective on the joint effects of relationship

quality and differentiation on creativity. Academy of Management

Journal, 53(5), 1090-1109.

Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Liao, C., & Meuser, J. D. (2014). Servant leadership

and serving culture: Influence on individual and unit performance.

Academy of Management Journal, 57(5), 1434-1452.

Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Zhao, H., & Henderson, D. (2008). Servant

leadership: Development of a multidimensional measure and multi-

level assessment. The Leadership Quarterly, 19(2), 161-177.

Ling, Q., Lin, M., & Wu, X. (2016). The trickle-down effect of servant

leadership on frontline employee service behaviors and performance: A

multilevel study of Chinese hotels. Tourism Management, 52, 341-368.

Linstead, S., Maréchal, G., & Griffin, R. W. (2014). Theorizing and researching

the dark side of organization. Organization Studies, 35(2), 165-188.

Lips-Wiersma, M., & Morris, L. (2009). Discriminating between ‘meaningful

work’and the ‘management of meaning’. Journal of Business Ethics,

88(3), 491-511.

Liu, D., Chen, X. P., & Yao, X. (2011). From autonomy to creativity: a

multilevel investigation of the mediating role of harmonious passion.

Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(2), 294-309.

Liu, D., Jiang, K., Shalley, C. E., Keem, S., & Zhou, J. (2016). Motivational

mechanisms of employee creativity: A meta-analytic examination and

Page 144: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Reference

144

theoretical extension of the creativity literature. Organizational

behavior and human decision processes, 137, 236-263.

Liu, D., Liao, H., & Loi, R. (2012). The dark side of leadership: A three-level

investigation of the cascading effect of abusive supervision on

employee creativity. Academy of Management Journal, 55(5), 1187-

1212.

Liu, J., Liu, X., & Zeng, X. (2011). Does transactional leadership count for team

innovativeness? The moderating role of emotional labor and the

mediating role of team efficacy. Journal of Organizational Change

Management, 24(3), 282-298.

Loher, B. T., Noe, R. A., Moeller, N. L., & Fitzgerald, M. P. (1985). A meta-

analysis of the relation of job characteristics to job satisfaction. Journal

of Applied Psychology, 70(2), 280-289.

Lord, R. G., Brown, D. J., Harvey, J. L., & Hall, R. J. (2001). Contextual

constraints on prototype generation and their multilevel consequences

for leadership perceptions. The Leadership Quarterly, 12(3), 311-338.

Luthans, F., Avey, J. B., Avolio, B. J., Norman, S. M., & Combs, G. M. (2006).

Psychological capital development: toward a micro‐intervention.

Journal of Organizational Behavior, 27(3), 387-393.

Luthans, F., Avey, J. B., Clapp-Smith, R., & Li, W. (2008). More evidence on

the value of Chinese workers' psychological capital: A potentially

unlimited competitive resource? The International Journal of Human

Resource Management, 19(5), 818-827.

Luthans, F., Avolio, B. J., Avey, J. B., & Norman, S. M. (2007). Positive

psychological capital: Measurement and relationship with performance

and satisfaction. Personnel Psychology, 60(3), 541-572.

Luthans, F., Luthans, K. W., & Luthans, B. C. (2004). Positive psychological

capital: Beyond human and social capital. Business Horizons, 47(1), 45-

50.

Luthans, F., Youssef, C. M., & Avolio, B. J. (2007). Psychological capital:

Developing the human competitive edge. Oxford, UK: Oxford

University Press.

Ma, Z., Long, L., Zhang, Y., Zhang, J., & Lam, C. K. (2017). Why do high-

performance human resource practices matter for team creativity? The

mediating role of collective efficacy and knowledge sharing. Asia

Pacific Journal of Management, 1-22.

Madjar, N., Greenberg, E., & Chen, Z. (2011). Factors for radical creativity,

incremental creativity, and routine, noncreative performance. Journal of

Applied Psychology, 96(4), 730-743.

Page 145: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Reference

145

Madjar, N., Oldham, G. R., & Pratt, M. G. (2002). There's no place like home?

The contributions of work and nonwork creativity support to

employees' creative performance. Academy of Management Journal,

45(4), 757-767.

Madjar, N., & Ortiz‐Walters, R. (2008). Customers as contributors and reliable

evaluators of creativity in the service industry. Journal of

Organizational Behavior, 29(7), 949-966.

Madjar, N., & Shalley, C. E. (2008). Multiple tasks' and multiple goals' effect on

creativity: Forced incubation or just a distraction? Journal of

management, 34(4), 786-805.

Mainemelis, C., Kark, R., & Epitropaki, O. (2015). Creative leadership: A multi-

context conceptualization. The Academy of Management Annals, 9(1),

393-482.

Malik, M. A. R., & Butt, A. N. (2016). Rewards and Creativity: Past, Present,

and Future. Applied Psychology, 66(2), 290-325.

Martinaityte, I., Sacramento, C., & Aryee, S. (2016) (in press). Delighting the

Customer: Creativity-Oriented High-Performance Work Systems,

Frontline Employee Creative Performance, and Customer Satisfaction.

Journal of Management, .

May, D. R., Gilson, R. L., & Harter, L. M. (2004). The psychological conditions

of meaningfulness, safety and availability and the engagement of the

human spirit at work. Journal of Occupational and Organizational

Psychology, 77(1), 11-37.

Mayer, D. M., Bardes, M., & Piccolo, R. F. (2008). Do servant-leaders help

satisfy follower needs? An organizational justice perspective. European

Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 17(2), 180-197.

Michaelis, B., Stegmaier, R., & Sonntag, K. (2010). Shedding light on followers'

innovation implementation behavior: The role of transformational

leadership, commitment to change, and climate for initiative. Journal of

Managerial Psychology, 25(4), 408-429.

Michaelson, C., Pratt, M. G., Grant, A. M., & Dunn, C. P. (2014). Meaningful

work: Connecting business ethics and organization studies. Journal of

Business Ethics, 121(1), 77-90.

Minbaeva, D. B. (2013). Strategic HRM in building micro-foundations of

organizational knowledge-based performance. Human Resource

Management Review, 23(4), 378-390.

Montani, F., Odoardi, C., & Battistelli, A. (2014). Individual and contextual

determinants of innovative work behaviour: Proactive goal generation

matters. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 87(4),

645-670.

Page 146: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Reference

146

Morgeson, F. P., DeRue, D. S., & Karam, E. P. (2009). Leadership in teams: A

functional approach to understanding leadership structures and

processes. Journal of Management.

Mumford, M. D. (2000). Managing creative people: strategies and tactics for

innovation. Human Resource Management Review, 10(3), 313-351.

Mumford, M. D., & Gustafson, S. B. (1988). Creativity syndrome: Integration,

application, and innovation. Psychological Bulletin, 103(1), 27-43.

Mumford, M. D., & Hunter, S. T. (2005). Innovation in organizations: A multi-

level perspective on creativity. Research in Multi Level Issues, 4, 9-73.

Mumford, M. D., Scott, G. M., Gaddis, B., & Strange, J. M. (2002). Leading

creative people: Orchestrating expertise and relationships. The

Leadership Quarterly, 13(6), 705-750.

Neubert, M. J., Kacmar, K. M., Carlson, D. S., Chonko, L. B., & Roberts, J. A.

(2008). Regulatory focus as a mediator of the influence of initiating

structure and servant leadership on employee behavior. Journal of

Applied Psychology, 93(6), 1220-1233.

Newman, A., Ucbasaran, D., Zhu, F., & Hirst, G. (2014). Psychological capital:

A review and synthesis. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 35(1),

120-138.

Ng, T. W. H., & Feldman, D. C. (2012). A comparison of self-ratings and non-

self-report measures of employee creativity. Human Relations, 65(8),

1021-1047.

Nielsen, K., Yarker, J., Randall, R., & Munir, F. (2009). The mediating effects

of team and self-efficacy on the relationship between transformational

leadership, and job satisfaction and psychological well-being in

healthcare professionals: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey.

International Journal of Nursing Studies, 46(9), 1236-1244.

Noefer, K., Stegmaier, R., Molter, B., & Sonntag, K. (2009). A Great Many

Things to Do and Not a Minute to Spare: Can Feedback From

Supervisors Moderate the Relationship Between Skill Variety, Time

Pressure, and Employees' Innovative Behavior? Creativity Research

Journal, 21(4), 384-393.

Nord, W. R., Brief, A. P., Atieh, J. M., & Doherty, E. M. (1990). Studying

meanings of work: The case of work values: Lexington Books/DC

Heath and Com.

Ohly, S., & Fritz, C. (2010). Work characteristics, challenge appraisal, creativity,

and proactive behavior: A multi‐level study. Journal of Organizational

Behavior, 31(4), 543-565.

Page 147: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Reference

147

Ohly, S., Sonnentag, S., & Pluntke, F. (2006). Routinization, work

characteristics and their relationships with creative and proactive

behaviors. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 27(3), 257-279.

Oke, A., Munshi, N., & Walumbwa, F. O. (2009). The influence of leadership on

innovation processes and activities. Organizational Dynamics, 38(1),

64-72.

Oldham, G. R., & Cummings, A. (1996). Employee creativity: Personal and

contextual factors at work. Academy of Management Journal, 39(3),

607-634.

Owens, B. P., & Hekman, D. R. (2012). Modeling how to grow: An inductive

examination of humble leader behaviors, contingencies, and outcomes.

Academy of Management Journal, 55(4), 787-818.

Paauwe, J. (2009). HRM and performance: Achievements, methodological

issues and prospects. Journal of Management studies, 46(1), 129-142.

Panaccio, A., Henderson, D. J., Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., & Cao, X. (2015).

Toward an understanding of when and why servant leadership accounts

for employee extra-role behaviors. Journal of Business and Psychology,

30(4), 657-675.

Parris, D. L., & Peachey, J. W. (2013). A systematic literature review of servant

leadership theory in organizational contexts. Journal of Business Ethics,

113(3), 377-393.

Paterson, T. A., Luthans, F., & Jeung, W. (2014). Thriving at work: Impact of

psychological capital and supervisor support. Journal of Organizational

Behavior, 35(3), 434-446.

Paulus, P. B., & Dzindolet, M. (2008). Social influence, creativity and

innovation. Social Influence, 3(4), 228-247.

Peng, A. C. Y., Lin, H. E., Schaubroeck, J., McDonough, E. F., Hu, B. M., &

Zhang, A. G. (2016). CEO Intellectual Stimulation and Employee Work

Meaningfulness: The Moderating Role of Organizational Context.

Group & Organization Management, 41(2), 203-231.

Perry-Smith, J. E., & Shalley, C. E. (2003). The social side of creativity: A static

and dynamic social network perspective. Academy of management

review, 28(1), 89-106.

Piccolo, R. F., & Colquitt, J. A. (2006). Transformational leadership and job

behaviors: The mediating role of core job characteristics. Academy of

Management Journal, 49(2), 327-340.

Pieterse, A. N., van Knippenberg, D., Schippers, M., & Stam, D. (2010).

Transformational and transactional leadership and innovative behavior:

The moderating role of psychological empowerment. Journal of

Organizational Behavior, 31(4), 609-623.

Page 148: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Reference

148

Pirola‐Merlo, A., & Mann, L. (2004). The relationship between individual

creativity and team creativity: Aggregating across people and time.

Journal of Organizational Behavior, 25(2), 235-257.

Podsakoff, P. M., & MacKenzie, S. B. (1997). Kerr and Jermier's substitutes for

leadership model: Background, empirical assessment, and suggestions

for future research. The Leadership Quarterly, 8(2), 117-132.

Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Lee, J.-Y., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2003).

Common method biases in behavioral research: a critical review of the

literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology,

88(5), 879-903.

Podsakoff, P. M., & Organ, D. W. (1986). Self-reports in organizational research:

Problems and prospects. Journal of Management, 12(4), 531-544.

Pratt, M. G., & Ashforth, B. E. (2003). Fostering meaningfulness in working and

at work. Positive organizational scholarship: Foundations of A New

Discipline, 309-327.

Preacher, K. J., Rucker, D. D., & Hayes, A. F. (2007). Addressing moderated

mediation hypotheses: Theory, methods, and prescriptions. Multivariate

Behavioral Research, 42(1), 185-227.

Qu, R., Janssen, O., & Shi, K. (2015). Transformational leadership and follower

creativity: The mediating role of follower relational identification and

the moderating role of leader creativity expectations. The Leadership

Quarterly, 26(2), 286-299.

Raja, U., & Johns, G. (2010). The joint effects of personality and job scope on

in-role performance, citizenship behaviors, and creativity. Human

Relations, 63(7), 981-1005.

Redding, G. (1990). The spirit of Chinese capitalism (Vol. 22): Walter de

Gruyter.

Rego, A., Sousa, F., & Marques, C. (2012). Authentic leadership promoting

employees' psychological capital and creativity. Journal of Business

Research, 65(3), 429-437.

Reis, H. T., Sheldon, K. M., Gable, S. L., Roscoe, J., & Ryan, R. M. (2000).

Daily well-being: The role of autonomy, competence, and relatedness.

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26(4), 419-435.

Renko, M., El Tarabishy, A., Carsrud, A. L., & Brännback, M. (2015).

Understanding and measuring entrepreneurial leadership style. Journal

of Small Business Management, 53(1), 54-74.

Richter, A. W., Hirst, G., van Knippenberg, D., & Baer, M. (2012). Creative

Self-Efficacy and Individual Creativity in Team Contexts: Cross-Level

Interactions With Team Informational Resources. Journal of Applied

Psychology, 97(6), 1282-1290.

Page 149: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Reference

149

Rosing, K., Frese, M., & Bausch, A. (2011). Explaining the heterogeneity of the

leadership-innovation relationship: Ambidextrous leadership. The

Leadership Quarterly, 22(5), 956-974.

Rosso, B. D., Dekas, K. H., & Wrzesniewski, A. (2010). On the meaning of

work: A theoretical integration and review. Research in Organizational

Behavior, 30, 91-127.

Ruvio, A., Rosenblatt, Z., & Hertz-Lazarowitz, R. (2010). Entrepreneurial

leadership vision in nonprofit vs. for-profit organizations. The

Leadership Quarterly, 21(1), 144-158.

Sagiv, L., Arieli, S., Goldenberg, J., & Goldschmidt, A. (2010). Structure and

freedom in creativity: The interplay between externally imposed

structure and personal cognitive style. Journal of Organizational

Behavior, 31(8), 1086-1110.

Salancik, G. R., & Pfeffer, J. (1978). A social information processing approach

to job attitudes and task design. Administrative Science Quarterly, 23,

224-253.

Schaubroeck, J., Lam, S. S., & Xie, J. L. (2000). Collective efficacy versus self-

efficacy in coping responses to stressors and control: a cross-cultural

study. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(4), 512-525.

Schneider, B. (1982). Interactional psychology and organizational behavior. In L.

L. Cummings & B. M. Staw (Eds.), Research In Organizational

Behavior, Vol. 5: 1-32. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

Scott, S. G., & Bruce, R. A. (1994). Determinants of innovative behavior-A path

model of individual innovation in the workplace. Academy of

Management Journal, 37(3), 580-607.

Scott, S. G., & Bruce, R. A. (1994). Determinants of innovative behavior: A path

model of individual innovation in the workplace. Academy of

Management Journal, 37(3), 580-607.

Selig, J. P., & Preacher, K. J. (2008). Monte Carlo method for assessing

mediation: An interactive tool for creating confidence intervals for

indirect effects. Computer software]. Retrieved from http://quantpsy.

org.

Semmer, N. K. (2000). Control at work: Issues of specificity, generality, and

legitimacy. In W. J. Perrig & A. Grob (Eds.), Control of human

behavior, mental processes, and consciousness—Essays in honour of

the 60th birthday of August Flammer (pp. 555–574). Mahwah, NJ:

Erlbaum

Sendjaya, S., & Sarros, J. C. (2002). Servant leadership: Its origin, development,

and application in organizations. Journal of Leadership &

Organizational Studies, 9(2), 57-64.

Page 150: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Reference

150

Shalley, C. E. (1991). Effects of productivity goals, creativity goals, and

personal discretion on individual creativity. Journal of Applied

Psychology, 76(2), 179-185.

Shalley, C. E. (1995). Effects of coaction, expected evaluation, and goal setting

on creativity and productivity. Academy of Management Journal, 38(2),

483-503.

Shalley, C. E., & Gilson, L. L. (2004). What leaders need to know: A review of

social and contextual factors that can foster or hinder creativity. The

Leadership Quarterly, 15(1), 33-53.

Shalley, C. E., Gilson, L. L., & Blum, T. C. (2000). Matching creativity

requirements and the work environment: Effects on satisfaction and

intentions to leave. Academy of Management Journal, 43(2), 215-223.

Shalley, C. E., Gilson, L. L., & Blum, T. C. (2009). Interactive effects of growth

need strength, work context, and job complexity on self-reported

creative performance. Academy of Management Journal, 52(3), 489-

505.

Shalley, C. E., & Perry-Smith, J. E. (2001). Effects of social-psychological

factors on creative performance: The role of informational and

controlling expected evaluation and modeling experience.

Organizational Behavior And Human Decision Processes, 84(1), 1-22.

Shalley, C. E., Zhou, J., & Oldham, G. R. (2004). The effects of personal and

contextual characteristics on creativity: Where should we go from here?

Journal of Management, 30(6), 933-958.

Shavinina, L. V. (2003). The international handbook on innovation: Elsevier.

Shin, S. J. (2015). Leadership and Creativity: The Mechanism. The Oxford

Handbook of Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship. Oxford

University Press.

Shin, Y. & Eom, C. (2014). Team Proactivity as a Linking Mechanism between

Team Creative Efficacy, Transformational Leadership, and Risk‐Taking

Norms and Team Creative Performance. The Journal of Creative

Behavior, 48(2), 89-114.

Shin, S. J., & Zhou, J. (2003). Transformational leadership, conservation, and

creativity: Evidence from Korea. Academy of Management Journal,

46(6), 703-714.

Shin, S. J. & Zhou, J. (2007). When is educational specialization heterogeneity

related to creativity in research and development teams?

Transformational leadership as a moderator. Journal of Applied

Psychology, 92(6), 1709-1721.

Page 151: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Reference

151

Shin, S. J., Jeong, I., & Bae, J. (2016). Do high-involvement HRM practices

matter for worker creativity? A cross-level approach. The International

Journal of Human Resource Management, 1-26.

Shin, S. J., Kim, T. Y., Lee, J. Y., & Bian, L. (2012). Cognitive team diversity

and individual team member creativity: A cross-level interaction.

Academy of Management Journal, 55(1), 197-212.

Siemsen, E., Roth, A. V., & Balasubramanian, S. (2008). How motivation,

opportunity, and ability drive knowledge sharing: The constraining-

factor model. Journal of Operations Management, 26(3), 426-445.

Silvia, P. J., Nusbaum, E. C., Berg, C., Martin, C., & O’Connor, A. (2009).

Openness to experience, plasticity, and creativity: Exploring lower-

order, high-order, and interactive effects. Journal of Research in

Personality, 43(6), 1087-1090.

Simonton, D. K. (1999). Origins of genius: Darwinian perspectives on creativity:

Oxford University Press.

Sims, H. P., Faraj, S., & Yun, S. (2009). When should a leader be directive or

empowering? How to develop your own situational theory of leadership.

Business Horizons, 52(2), 149-158.

Smircich, L., & Morgan, G. (1982). Leadership: The management of meaning.

Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 18(3), 257-273.

Sosa, M. E. (2011). Where do creative interactions come from? The role of tie

content and social networks. Organization Science, 22(1), 1-21.

Spector, P. E., & Jex, S. M. (1991). Relations of job characteristics from

multiple data sources with employee affect, absence, turnover

intentions, and health. Journal of Applied Psychology, 76(1), 46-53.

Stajkovic, A. D., Lee, D., & Nyberg, A. J. (2009). Collective efficacy, group

potency, and group performance: meta-analyses of their relationships,

and test of a mediation model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(3),

814-828.

Stajkovic, A. D., & Luthans, F. (1998). Self-efficacy and work-related

performance: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 124(2), 240-261.

Stashevsky, S., Burke, R., Carmeli, A., Meitar, R., & Weisberg, J. (2006). Self-

leadership skills and innovative behavior at work. International Journal

of Manpower, 27(1), 75-90.

Staw, B. M. (1990). An evolutionary approach to creativity and innovation. In

West, M. A. and Farr, J. L. (Eds), Innovation and Creativity at Work

(pp. 287–308). Chichester: Wiley.

Steers, R. M., & Porter, L. W. (1991). Work and motivation: some concluding

observations. Motivation and Work Behavior, 573-582.

Page 152: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Reference

152

Steger, M. F., & Dik, B. J. (2010). Work as meaning: Individual and

organizational benefits of engaging in meaningful work. In P. A. Linley,

S. Harrington, & N. Page (Eds.), Oxford handbook of positive

psychology and work (pp.131–142). Oxford, England: Oxford

University Press.

Steger, M. F., Dik, B. J., & Duffy, R. D. (2012). Measuring meaningful work:

The work and meaning inventory (WAMI). Journal of Career

Assessment, 20(3), 322-337.

Steger, M. F., Littman-Ovadia, H., Miller, M., Menger, L., & Rothmann, S.

(2013). Engaging in work even when it is meaningless: Positive

affective disposition and meaningful work interact in relation to work

engagement. Journal of Career Assessment, 20(3), 322-337.

Subramony, M. (2009). A meta-analytic investigation of the relationship

between hrm bundles and firm performance. Human Resource

Management, 48(5), 745-768.

Sun, T., Zhao, X. W., Yang, L. B., & Fan, L. H. (2012). The impact of

psychological capital on job embeddedness and job performance among

nurses: a structural equation approach. Journal of Advanced Nursing,

68(1), 69-79.

Sweetman, D., Luthans, F., Avey, J. B., & Luthans, B. C. (2011). Relationship

between positive psychological capital and creative performance.

Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences / Revue Canadienne Des

Sciences De L Administration, 28(1), 4-13.

Taggar, S. (2002). Individual creativity and group ability to utilize individual

creative resources: A multilevel model. Academy of Management

Journal, 45(2), 315-330.

Tett, R. P., & Burnett, D. D. (2003). A personality trait-based interactionist

model of job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(3), 500-

517.

Tett, R. P., Simonet, D. V., Walser, B., & Brown, C. (2013). Trait activation

theory. Handbook of personality at work, 71-100.

Thompson, C. A., & Prottas, D. J. (2006). Relationships among organizational

family support, job autonomy, perceived control, and employee well-

being. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 11(1), 100-118.

Thornberry, N. (2006). Lead like an entrepreneur: McGraw Hill Professional.

Tierney, P. (2008). Leadership and employee creativity. Handbook of

organizational creativity, 95-123.

Tierney, P., & Farmer, S. M. (2002). Creative self-efficacy: Its potential

antecedents and relationship to creative performance. Academy of

Management Journal, 45(6), 1137-1148.

Page 153: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Reference

153

Tierney, P., & Farmer, S. M. (2004). The Pygmalion process and employee

creativity. Journal of management, 30(3), 413-432.

Tierney, P., & Farmer, S. M. (2011). Creative self-efficacy development and

creative performance over time. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(2),

277-293.

Tierney, P., Farmer, S. M., & Graen, G. B. (1999). An examination of leadership

and employee creativity: The relevance of traits and relationships.

Personnel Psychology, 52(3), 591-620.

To, M. L., Fisher, C. D., Ashkanasy, N. M., & Rowe, P. A. (2012). Within-

person relationships between mood and creativity. Journal of Applied

Psychology, 97(3), 599-612.

Van de Ven, A. H. (1986). Central problems in the management of innovation.

Management science, 32(5), 590-607.

Van Dierendonck, D. (2011). Servant leadership: A review and synthesis.

Journal of Management, 37(4), 1228-1261.

van Dierendonck, D., & Rook, L. (2010). Enhancing innovation and creativity

through servant leadership Servant Leadership (pp. 155-165): Springer.

van Dierendonck, D., & Sousa, M. (2016). Finding meaning in highly uncertain

situations: Servant leadership during change Leadership lessons from

compelling contexts (pp. 403-424): Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Van Dierendonck, D., Stam, D., Boersma, P., De Windt, N., & Alkema, J.

(2014). Same difference? Exploring the differential mechanisms linking

servant leadership and transformational leadership to follower outcomes.

The Leadership Quarterly, 25(3), 544-562.

Van Dyne, L., Jehn, K. A., & Cummings, A. (2002). Differential effects of strain

on two forms of work performance: individual employee sales and

creativity. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23(1), 57-74.

van Knippenberg, D. (2012). Leadership: A person-in-situation perspective. In

Deaux, K. and Snyder, M. (Eds.) (2012). Oxford handbook of

personality and social psychology. (pp. 673–700). New York, NY:

Oxford University Press

van Knippenberg, D., & Hirst, G. (2015). A Cross-Level Perspective on

Creativity at Work. In C. E. Shalley, M. A. Hitt & J. Zhou (Eds.), The

Oxford Handbook of Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship (pp.

225-244). New York: Oxford University Press.

Van Knippenberg, D., & Sitkin, S. B. (2013). A critical assessment of

charismatic—Transformational leadership research: Back to the

drawing board? The Academy Of Management Annals, 7(1), 1-60.

Page 154: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Reference

154

Volmer, J., Spurk, D., & Niessen, C. (2012). Leader–member exchange (LMX),

job autonomy, and creative work involvement. The Leadership

Quarterly, 23(3), 456-465.

Walumbwa, F. O., Christensen, A. L., & Muchiri, M. K. (2013).

Transformational leadership and meaningful work. In B. J. Dik, Z. S.

Byrne, & M. F. Steger (Eds.), Purpose and meaning in the workplace

(pp. 197–215). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Walumbwa, F. O., Hartnell, C. A., & Oke, A. (2010). Servant leadership,

procedural justice climate, service climate, employee attitudes, and

organizational citizenship behavior: a cross-level investigation. Journal

of Applied Psychology, 95(3), 517-529.

Walumbwa, F. O., Luthans, F., Avey, J. B., & Oke, A. (2011). Retracted:

Authentically leading groups: The mediating role of collective

psychological capital and trust. Journal of Organizational Behavior,

32(1), 4-24.

Walumbwa, F. O., Wang, P., Lawler, J. J., & Shi, K. (2004). The role of

collective efficacy in the relations between transformational leadership

and work outcomes. Journal of Occupational and Organizational

Psychology, 77(4), 515-530.

Wang, A. C., & Cheng, B. S. (2010). When does benevolent leadership lead to

creativity? The moderating role of creative role identity and job

autonomy. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 31(1), 106-121.

Wang, C. J., Tsai, H. T., & Tsai, M. T. (2014). Linking transformational

leadership and employee creativity in the hospitality industry: The

influences of creative role identity, creative self-efficacy, and job

complexity. Tourism Management, 40, 79-89.

Wang, P., & Rode, J. C. (2010). Transformational leadership and follower

creativity: The moderating effects of identification with leader and

organizational climate. Human Relations, 63(8), 1105-1128.

Whiting, B. G. (1988). Creativity and entrepreneurship: how do they relate? The

Journal of Creative Behavior, 22(3), 178-183.

Wolfradt, U., & Pretz, J. E. (2001). Individual differences in creativity:

Personality, story writing, and hobbies. European Journal Of

Personality, 15(4), 297-310.

Woodman, R. W., Sawyer, J. E., & Griffin, R. W. (1993). Toward a theory of

organizational creativity. Academy of Management Review, 18(2), 293-

321.

Yan, M., Peng, K. Z., & Francesco, A. M. (2011). The differential effects of job

design on knowledge workers and manual workers: A quasi‐experimental field study in China. Human Resource Management,

50(3), 407-424.

Page 155: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Reference

155

Yidong, T., & Xinxin, L. (2013). How ethical leadership influence employees’

innovative work behavior: A perspective of intrinsic motivation.

Journal of Business Ethics, 116(2), 441-455.

Yoshida, D. T., Sendjaya, S., Hirst, G., & Cooper, B. (2014). Does servant

leadership foster creativity and innovation? A multi-level mediation

study of identification and prototypicality. Journal of Business

Research, 67(7), 1395-1404.

Yu, C., & Frenkel, S. J. (2013). Explaining task performance and creativity from

perceived organizational support theory: Which mechanisms are more

important? Journal of Organizational Behavior, 34(8), 1165-1181.

Yuan, F., & Woodman, R. W. (2010). Innovative behavior in the workplace: The

role of performance and image outcome expectations. Academy of

Management Journal, 53(2), 323-342.

Yuan, F. R., & Woodman, R. W. (2010). Innovative behavior in the workplace:

The role of performance and image outcome expectations. Academy of

Management Journal, 53(2), 323-342.

Zhang, X., & Bartol, K. M. (2010). Linking empowering leadership and

employee creativity: The influence of psychological empowerment,

intrinsic motivation, and creative process engagement. Academy of

Management Journal, 53(1), 107-128.

Zhang, X., & Zhou, J. (2014). Empowering leadership, uncertainty avoidance,

trust, and employee creativity: Interaction effects and a mediating

mechanism. Organizational Behavior And Human Decision Processes,

124(2), 150-164.

Zhou, J. (1998). Feedback valence, feedback style, task autonomy, and

achievement orientation: Interactive effects on creative performance.

Journal of Applied Psychology, 83(2), 261-276.

Zhou, J. (2003). When the presence of creative coworkers is related to creativity:

role of supervisor close monitoring, developmental feedback, and

creative personality. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(3), 413-422.

Zhou, J., & George, J. M. (2003). Awakening employee creativity: The role of

leader emotional intelligence. The Leadership Quarterly, 14(4), 545-

568.

Zhou, J., & Hoever, I. J. (2014). Research on workplace creativity: A review and

redirection. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and

Organizational Behavior, 1(1), 333-359.

Zhou, J., & Oldham, G. R. (2001). Enhancing creative performance: Effects of

expected developmental assessment strategies and creative personality.

The Journal of Creative Behavior, 35(3), 151-167.

Page 156: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Reference

156

Zhou, J., & Shalley, C. E. (2003). Research on employee creativity: A critical

review and directions for future research. In Research in personnel and

human resources management (pp. 165-217). Emerald Group

Publishing Limited.

Zhou, J., & Shalley, C. E. (2008). Expanding the scope and impact of

organizational creativity research. Handbook of organizational

creativity, 28, 125-147.

Zhou, J., & Shalley, C. E. (2011). Deepening our understanding of creativity in

the workplace: A review of different approaches to creativity research.

In S. Zedeck (Ed.), Vol 1: Building and developing the organization.

APA handbooks in psychology (pp. 275-302). Washington, DC:

American Psychological Association.

Zhou, J., Shin, S. J., & Cannella Jr, A. A. (2008). Employee self-perceived

creativity after mergers and acquisitions: Interactive effects of threat—

opportunity perception, access to resources, and support for creativity.

The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 44(4), 397-421.

Zhou, Q., Hirst, G., & Shipton, H. (2012). Context matters: Combined influence

of participation and intellectual stimulation on the promotion focus–

employee creativity relationship. Journal of Organizational Behavior,

33(7), 894-909.

Page 157: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Summary

157

Summary

Employee creativity is considered to be an important determinant for

organizational innovation, survival and competition in the modern global

marketplace. Thus, researchers have been investigating various variables that

facilitate employee creativity in organizations. However, thus far, there is

limited research on elucidating what predictors from organizations and

employees themselves can align to engender employee creative results.

Therefore, the present dissertation aims to fill in this research gap by addressing

the following five research questions: 1) how to awaken employee creativity

from an HR perspective; 2) how employees could awaken their own creativity; 3)

how leaders could awaken employee creativity; 4) how to awaken employee

creativity through job design; and 5) can employee creativity be awakened in

teams. To realize this goal, I conducted four independent conceptual and

empirical studies (Chapter 2 to 5) to provide a better understanding of how to

manage employee creativity in organizations through integrating predictors from

various aspects.

The results showed that HR practices of ability-, motivation-, and opportunity-

enhancing perspectives can be interacted into combination model and

multiplicative model to generate different levels of employee creativity (Chapter

2). Furthermore, highlighting the psychological role of employee themselves,

their PsyCap (Chapter 2), creative efficacy beliefs (Chapter 4) and meaningful

work (Chapter 5) are specified as critical predictors of their creative outcomes.

To extend the leadership approach in creativity research, our findings also

indicated that entrepreneurial leadership (Chapter 4) and servant leadership

(Chapter 5) significantly foster employee creativity and innovative work

behaviors, and supervisor support for creativity (Chapter 3) strengthens the

positive influence of PsyCap on employee creativity. Given that job

characteristics are consistent with the applications of the person-in-situation

theory in the creativity literature, the results further illustrated that organizations

that enhance employee tasks along five dimensions (i.e., variety, identity,

significance, autonomy, and feedback) may create as a positive context to

positively moderate the influences of personal psychological attributes on

creative results (Chapter 3 and 5). Finally, the attention to nurturing employee

creativity in the team context demonstrated the beneficial effects of team

creative efficacy on team members’ creative performance, as well as its cross-

level mediational effects that links entrepreneurial leadership and creativity

Page 158: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Summary

158

(Chapter 4). All studies together provide evidence to highlight that variables

from various aspects can be well integrated to promote employee creativity in

organizations.

From different perspectives and frameworks, this dissertation contributes to the

creativity research by primarily providing important insights into how to

enhance employee creativity in organizations through integrating predictors from

HR management, employee themselves, leadership and supervisory behaviors,

job characteristics, and building teams. Enriching our practical understanding on

awakening creativity in organizations, this dissertation also offers useful

implications for practitioners to effectively manage workplace creativity.

Page 159: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Nederlandse Samenvatting (Dutch Summary)

159

Nederlandse Samenvatting (Dutch Summary)

Creativiteit van medewerkers wordt beschouwd als een belangrijke, bepalende

factor voor organisatorische innovatie, overleving en concurrentie in de moderne

wereldmarkt. Onderzoekers hebben verschillende variabelen onderzocht die de

creativiteit van werknemers in organisaties bevorderen. Tot dusverre is er echter

weinig onderzoek gedaan naar het ophelderen van welke voorspellers van

organisaties en werknemers zichzelf kunnen afstemmen op creatieve resultaten

van werknemers. Dit proefschrift wil deze leemte in de literatuur opvullen door

de volgende vijf onderzoeksvragen aan te pakken: 1) hoe kan de creativiteit van

werknemers te wekken vanuit een HR-perspectief; 2) hoe kunnen werknemers

hun eigen creativiteit opwekken; 3) hoe kunnen managers de creativiteit van

werknemers wekken; 4) hoe kan de creativiteit van werknemers op te wekken

door middel van functiebeschrijving; en 5) kan de creativiteit van werknemers in

teams worden gewekt. Om deze vragen te beantwoorden, zijn er vier

onafhankelijke conceptuele en empirische studies (hoofdstuk 2 tot 5) uitgevoerd

om een beter begrip te krijgen van hoe creativiteit van werknemers in

organisaties kan worden beheerd door voorspellers van verschillende aspecten te

integreren.

De resultaten tonen aan dat HR-praktijken van capaciteits-, motivatie- en

kansenverhogende perspectieven kunnen worden gecombineerd in een

combinatie- en multiplicatief model om verschillende niveaus van

werknemerscreativiteit te genereren (hoofdstuk 2). Verder wordt de nadruk

gelegd op de psychologische rol van de werknemer zelf, hun PsyCap (hoofdstuk

2), creatieve werkzaamheidsopvattingen (hoofdstuk 4) en zinvol werk

(hoofdstuk 5) als kritische voorspellers van hun creatieve uitkomsten. Om de

leiderschapsstijl in creatief onderzoek uit te breiden, geven onze bevindingen

ook aan dat ondernemer leiderschap (hoofdstuk 4) en dienend leiderschap

(hoofdstuk 5) creativiteit en innovatief werkgedrag van werknemers aanzienlijk

bevorderen, en supervisorondersteuning voor creativiteit (hoofdstuk 3) de

positieve invloed van PsyCap op medewerkerscreativiteit. Aangezien de

kenmerken van een baan consistent zijn met de toepassingen van de persoon-in-

situ-theorie in de creativiteitsliteratuur, hebben de resultaten verder geïllustreerd

dat organisaties die taken van medewerkers langs vijf dimensies verbeteren

(d.w.z. variëteit, identiteit, betekenis, autonomie en feedback) mogelijk als een

positieve context creëren om de invloeden van persoonlijke psychologische

kenmerken op creatieve resultaten positief te matigen (hoofdstuk 3 en 5). Tot

slot toonde de aandacht voor het koesteren van de creativiteit van medewerkers

Page 160: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Nederlandse Samenvatting (Dutch Summary)

160

in de teamcontext de positieve effecten van team creatieve efficiëntie op de

creatieve prestaties van teamleden, evenals de cross-level mediale effecten die

ondernemer leiderschap en creativiteit verbinden (hoofdstuk 4). Alle

onderzoeken samen tonen aan dat variabelen uit verschillende aspecten goed

kunnen worden geïntegreerd om de creativiteit van medewerkers in organisaties

te bevorderen.

Vanuit verschillende perspectieven en kaders draagt dit proefschrift bij aan het

creativiteitsonderzoek door vooral belangrijke inzichten te bieden over hoe de

creativiteit van werknemers in organisaties kan worden verbeterd door

voorspellers van HR-management, de werknemer zelf, leiderschaps- en

supervisiestijl, functie-eigenschappen en bouwteams te integreren. Het

proefschrift verrijkt ons praktische begrip van creativiteit in organisaties, en

biedt ook nuttige richtlijnen voor de praktijk om creativiteit op de werkplek

effectief te managen.

Page 161: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Appendix

161

Appendix

Survey items in Chapter 3:

PsyCap (Luthans, Avolio, Avey & Norman, 2007)

1. I feel confident analyzing a long-term problem to find a solution. (E)

2. I feel confident contributing to discussions about the company's strategy.

(E)

3. I feel confident presenting information to a group of colleagues. (E)

4. If I should find myself in a jam at work, I could think of many ways to

get out of it. (H)

5. Right now I see myself as being pretty successful at work. (H)

6. I can think of many ways to reach my current work goals. (H)

7. At this time, I am meeting the work goals that I have set for myself. (H)

8. I can be "on my own" so to speak at work if I have to. (R)

9. I usually take stressful things at work in stride. (R)

10. I can get through difficult times at work because I've experienced

difficulty before. (R)

11. I always look on the bright side of things regarding my job. (H)

12. I’m optimistic about what will happen to me in the future as it pertains

to work. (H)

Supervisor support for creativity (SSC) (Baer & Oldham, 2006)

1. My supervisor discusses with me my work-related ideas in order to

improve them.

2. My supervisor gives me useful feedback about my ideas concerning the

workplace.

3. My supervisor is always ready to support me if I introduce an unpopular

idea or solution at work.

4. My supervisor supports experimentation with new methods and ways of

doing things.

Job characteristics (Hackman & Oldham, 1976)

1. The job requires me to use a number of complex or high-level skills. (V)

2. The job is arranged so that I can do an entire piece of work from

beginning to end. (I)

3. Just doing the work required by the job provides many chances for me

to figure out how well I am doing. (F)

4. The job is quite simple and repetitive. (V)

5. This job is one where a lot of other people can be affected by how well

the work gets done. (S)

Page 162: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Appendix

162

6. The job gives me a chance to use my personal initiative and judgment

in carrying out the work. (A)

7. The job provides me the chance to completely finish the pieces of work

I begin. (I)

8. After I finish a job, I know whether I performed well. (F)

9. The job gives me considerable opportunity for independence and

freedom in how I do the work. (A)

10. The job itself is very significant and important in the broader scheme of

things. (S)

Employee creativity (Farmer, Tierney, & Kung-Mcintyre, 2003)

1. I try new ideas or methods first.

2. I seek new ideas and ways to solve problems.

3. I generate ground-breaking ideas related to the field.

4. I am a good role model for creativity.

Intrinsic motivation (Guay, Vallerand & Blanchard, 2000)

1. I feel good when doing this activity.

2. I think that this activity is interesting.

3. This activity is fun.

4. I think that this activity is pleasant.

Survey items in Chapter 4:

Entrepreneurial leadership (Renko, Tarabishy, Carsrud & Brännback, 2015)

1. My leader often comes up with radical improvement ideas for the

products/services we are selling.

2. My leader often comes up with ideas of completely new

products/services that we could sell.

3. My leader takes risks.

4. My leader has creative solutions to problems.

5. My leader demonstrates passion for his/her work.

6. My leader has a vision of the future of our business.

7. My leader challenges and pushes me to act in a more innovative way.

8. My leader wants me to challenge the current ways we do business.

Creative self-efficacy (Tierney & Farmer, 2002)

1. I have confidence in my ability to solve problems creatively.

2. I have confidence in my ability to solve problems creatively.

3. I have a knack for further developing the ideas of others.

Team creative efficacy (Tierney & Farmer, 2002; and Shin & Eom, 2012)

1. Members of my team feel that they are good at generating novel ideas.

Page 163: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Appendix

163

2. Members of my team have confidence in their abilities to solve

problems creatively.

3. Members of my team have a knack for further developing the ideas of

others.

4. Members of my team believe that they will be able to achieve most of

the team goals in a creative way.

Employee creativity (Farmer, Tierney, & Kung-Mcintyre, 2003)

1. This employee tries new ideas or methods first.

2. This employee seeks new ideas and ways to solve problems.

3. This employee generates ground-breaking ideas related to the field.

4. This employee is a good role model for creativity.

Team creativity (Shin & Zhou, 2007)

1. How well does your team produce new ideas?

2. How useful are those ideas?

3. How creative do you consider your teams?

4. How significant are those ideas to your organizations?

Survey items in Chapter 5:

Servant leadership (Liden Wayne, Liao & Meuser, 2014)

1. My manager can tell if something work-related is going wrong.

2. My manager makes my career development a priority.

3. I would seek help from my manager if I had a personal problem.

4. My manager emphasizes the importance of giving back to the

community.

5. My manager puts my best interests ahead of his/her own.

6. My manager gives me the freedom to handle difficult situations in the

way that I feel is best.

7. My manager would NOT compromise ethical principles in order to

achieve success.

Meaningful work (Steger, Dik & Duffy, 2012)

1. I have found a meaningful career.

2. I have a good sense of what makes my job meaningful.

3. I have discovered work that has a satisfying purpose.

4. My work helps me better understand myself.

5. My work helps me make sense of the world around me.

6. I know my work makes a positive difference in the world.

7. The work I do serves a greater purpose.

Page 164: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Appendix

164

Innovative work behavior (IWB) (Scott & Bruce, 1994)

1. I search out new technologies, processes, techniques, and/or service

ideas.

2. I generate creative ideas.

3. I promote and champions ideas to others.

4. I investigate and secure funds needed to implement new ideas.

5. I develop adequate plans and schedules for the implementation of new

ideas.

6. I am innovative.

Job autonomy (Hackman & Oldham, 1975)

1. I decide on my own how to go about doing the work.

2. The job gives me considerable opportunity for independence and

freedom in how I do the work.

Page 165: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Acknowledgements

165

Acknowledgements

While writing this PhD dissertation, I recalled every moment since the very

beginning of my PhD program. Through the many ups and downs, I have

enjoyed this wonderful and exciting journey and sincerely thank all those along

the way who contributed to my accomplishment.

My first thank you goes to my supervisor, Prof. Bart Bossink, the head of the

Department of Science, Business and Innovation (SBI). Thank you for guiding

me to apply for this valuable PhD position. I am forever grateful for your kind

words, such asking me to “take a rest” for my health, or your simple words of

encouragement: “you can do it”. Your faith has guided me through the research

with more confidence.

My sincerest thanks are also due for Prof. Svetlana Khapova, the head of the

Department of Management and Organization, for serving as my great academic

supervisor. I learned to grow as a person from your guidance as: a qualified

researcher, a responsible leader, a supportive wife, and a warm mother. I value

every opportunity you provided for me, and every conversation we had. Words

cannot express my sincere gratitude for your inspiration.

I want to express my deep gratitude to my co-promoter, Dr. Evgenia Lysova.

Thank you for your valuable time and for sharing your experiences with me. I

especially appreciate you for pushing me to ask "Why?" and strengthening my

research logic. Your patience with my English writing skills and occasional

stubbornness will always be remembered.

I owe a special debt of gratitude to my committee members for reading my PhD

thesis: Prof. Peter van der Sijde, Prof. Paul Jansen, Prof. Celeste Wilderom, Prof.

Jeff Gaspersz, and Dr. Tsvi Vinig. Thank you for your valuable input and

evaluation of my dissertation.

I highly enjoyed my four years with many smart colleagues in SBI group: Seyed,

Mia, Angelo, Yu and Inge. I am so grateful that I have studied with you in a

harmonious and creative research environment. My special appreciation goes out

to Jaan for always being my good teacher and helpful friend. Furthermore a

warm thanks to Chun for sharing your valuable research experience and being

my statistical guru.

I am also blessed by having the opportunity to interact with all the inspiring

people in Amsterdam Business Research Institute (ABRI). Marlieke, Jingshu,

Katie, Slyvia, Lin, Christine, Susanne, Omar, and Maria, I want to thank you all

for the warmth you provided and the chats we had in the various stages of my

Page 166: AWAKENING EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS dissertation.pdf · Chapter 4 Does Entrepreneurial Leadership Foster Creativity among Employees and Teams? The Mediating Role of Creative

Acknowledgements

166

PhD project. Susan, thank you for your generous assistance in my research and

life issues. A deep bow to Niki for your continuous help from the beginning of

my research in ABRI on the 4th

floor. A special thank you to Francine for your

big hugs and hilarious jokes to relieve my stress, I really miss you.

I would like to send my words of gratitude to all those who helped during my

PhD journey. I would like to thank Prof. W. Song for your guidance in my

research. You were the first to enlighten me in my research career and stimulated

me to explore the possibilities of being a PhD abroad. Many thanks to Dr. Y.

Chuang from York University for discussing all my research ideas, sharing your

experiences, and providing career advice. I would like to thank all my ex-

colleagues from the University of Science and Technology of China, Dr. X.

Peng, Dr. S. Zhao, Dr. W. Wang, J. Song, for your kind help on data collection

and analysis. My sincere thanks also goes to Dr. J. Pan from Tianjin University

who helped me to be an independent and responsible researcher.

I’m grateful to have lovely friends who supported me and made my life fun in

Amsterdam. 小杰,美辰,清哥,周婷,小白姐,善亮,高峰,张哥,很珍

惜我们像一个大家庭能一起来荷兰学习,和你们在一起聚会和出游的每一

个瞬间都让我非常开心。苏艳,鲁平,孙哲,感谢你们的常相伴,每一次

热情的邀请都让我感受到家的温暖。文霞姐,习林师兄,谢谢你们让我的

午餐时光更加有滋有味。田羽,老胡,很庆幸能在荷兰认识你们,很珍惜

Evelyn,Nina 和 Elisa 一起相伴成长的那些美好时光。林俐,虽然我们认识

的时间不长,但每一次当我遇到困难,你都会站在我这边开导我支持我,

我会坚持我们并肩战斗的信念!Mehran and Marian, thank you for those

happy times when we enjoyed breakfast and dinner together. Ruben, Zhi and I

really appreciate our friendship when you were studying in China eight years

ago, and thank you so much for your continued assistance in Netherlands.

Last, but certainly not least, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my family. 亲爱的

爸爸妈妈,感谢你们这么多年来的辛苦付出和默默支持,尽管我知道你们

并不希望我离开你们太远,但却仍然支持我出国读书,我爱你们!亲爱的

爷爷、奶奶、外公、外婆、姨妈、姨夫、舅舅和舅妈,感谢你们一直以我

为骄傲并且无私地资助我,让我有动力成为弟弟们的榜样。最后,感谢我

生命中最重要的两个人:Elisa(张泊真),感恩拥有你这个可爱的小天使,

是你完整了我的生命。张智(大宝),和你在一起的每一天我都觉得很有

意义,谢谢你的包容和信任,让我能够成长为更好的我。I'll be around

anywhere you are. 我爱你!

With gratitude and love…