Does being mindful make people more creative at work? The role of creative process engagement and perceived leader humility

Does the leader's negative feedback benefit employees' creative process engagement? The mediating effect of impression management motivation

Purpose

Drawing from impression management theory, this study examines how the leader's negative feedback affects the employees' creative process engagement (CPE) and whether impression management motivation plays a mediating role in this process. In addition, the moderating role of face consciousness is analyzed in the relationship between negative feedback and impression management motivation.

Design/methodology/approach

A time-lagged design with three data-collection points was implemented based on a dataset of two studies of follower–leader pairs (Ns = 165, 30 and 682, 89) in China. Ordinary least squares regression analyses were conducted to test the hypotheses.

Findings

The leader's negative feedback positively affected employees' CPE via impression management motivation. The relationship was stronger when face consciousness salience was high.

Practical implications

This study suggests that negative feedback is also valuable. Supervisors should learn how to stimulate employees' impression management motivation when delivering negative feedback and ensure that employees know that CPE can bring help and status rewards. Moreover, supervisors may consider using face strategies when providing negative feedback.

Originality/value

This study provides new insights into the association between the leader's negative feedback and employees' CPE by impression management as a psychological mechanism and face consciousness as an important boundary condition. It lays a foundation for further systematic research on CPE based on sociological theory.

The Effects of Routinization on Radical and Incremental Creativity: The Mediating Role of Mental Workloads

An important question within the creativity literature is whether routinization inhibits individuals' creative performance. Scholars have concentrated on complex and demanding jobs that promote creativity while ignoring the potential effects of routinized activities on creativity. Moreover, little is known about the impact of routinization on creativity, and the few studies investigating this matter have reported inconclusive and inconsistent results. This study investigates the mixed impacts of routinization on creativity by examining whether routinization has a direct impact on two dimensions of creativity or an indirect impact through the mediating role of mental workloads, such as mental effort load, time load, and psychological stress load. Based on multisource and time-lagged data from 213 employee-supervisor dyads, we found a positive direct effect of routinization on incremental creativity. In addition, routinization had both an indirect effect on radical creativity via time load and on incremental creativity via mental effort load. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Leader humility and team creativity: The role of team creative efficacy and task interdependence

Although research on leader humility is developing into a prominent literature, the majority of studies have focused on the dyadic or individual rather than collective outcomes of leader humility. Thus, our understanding of the influencing mechanisms and boundary conditions of leader humility remains limited, particularly on the collective work outcome of team creativity, which requires more voluntary effort from employees. Drawing on social cognitive theory and social interdependence theory, our study investigates how leader humility promotes team creativity through team creative efficacy, with the moderation of a contextual factor, task interdependence. We used a sample of 84 teams and 393 employees surveyed in two waves of data collection. Overall, our study yields a mediated moderation model in which the positive indirect effect of leader humility via team creative efficacy on team creativity is stronger when team task interdependence is low rather than high. This study extends our understanding of how leader humility may influence work teams collectively and how the effectiveness of such a leader characteristic may be influenced by a structural factor of the work team. Other theoretical contributions and practical implications are also discussed.

How Does Servant Leadership Influences Creativity? Enhancing Employee Creativity via Creative Process Engagement and Knowledge Sharing

Grounding on social exchange theory and using the creative process engagement as a lens, this article study investigates the influence of servant leadership on employee creativity. In addition, the research examines the role of knowledge sharing in the link between servant leadership and employee creativity. Time lag method was used to collect the data from 242 employees and 57 managers employed in Chinese publicly listed companies. The data collection was divided into two parts. The subordinates were asked to rate servant leadership, their creative process engagement behavior, and knowledge sharing. The supervisors were asked to rate their associates regarding employee creativity. According to the results, employees creative process engagement behaviors mediated servant leadership and employees’ creativity. In addition, the link between servant leadership and employees’ creativity was strengthened by knowledge sharing. A detailed model is also provided, highlighting the significance of leadership, work engagement, knowledge sharing in fostering employee creativity in the Asian environment.

Employees’ Green Enterprise Motivation and Green Creative Process Engagement and Their Impact on Green Creative Performance

Based on the recent surge in environmental degradation issues mainly caused by the manufacturing industry and the inadequacy of the measures taken to respond to them, this research focuses on investigating whether employees’ motivation to protect the natural environment leads to their green creative performance (GCP) at work. It also examines the role of green creative process engagement (GCPE) as a mediator between green motivation (GM) and GCP. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is used to examine the hypotheses which indicated that employees’ GCP appears to be significantly influenced by their GM. Moreover, GCPE is also found to act as a mediating factor between the two. Moreover, industry type and gender are found to play significant roles in the studied variables. The current research is among the pioneer studies that focus on involving employees in the pro-environmental creative process through green motivation, leading towards GCP, an essential element for achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The study’s findings can help companies promote GCP to solve today’s most pressing environmental issues and achieve sustainable development goals.

How Does Leader Humility Influence Team Creativity? The Roles of Team Behavioral Integration and Leader Performance

This study developed and tested a research model to examine the influence of leader humility on team creativity. Drawing on social learning theory, we tested team behavioral integration as a mediator in the relationship between leader humility and team creativity. Moreover, we tested the moderating effect of leader performance on this mediated relationship. We tested our hypotheses using a multiple-source research design. Data were collected from 275 employees in 67 work teams from a variety of industrial companies in Southeast China. The results confirmed that team behavioral integration mediated the relationship between leader humility and team creativity. Furthermore, the indirect effect of leader humility on team creativity via team behavioral integration was stronger when leader performance was higher (vs. lower). We discuss the implications of our findings for the theory and practice of leader humility.

Predicting Innovative Work Behaviour in an Interactive Mechanism

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impacts of employees’ creative self-efficacy (CSE) and creative self-identity (CSI) on their innovative work behaviour (IWB), with the indirect effects of creative process engagement (CPE) and creative climate (CC). Following the deductive reasoning approach, the study was conducted on IT-based firms in Bangladesh. A total of 348 surveys were collected using a multi-item questionnaire. The collected data were then analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The study reveals a significant relationship between CSE and IWB, and CSI and IWB. It further explores the significant mediating effects of CPE and the moderating effects of CC on CSE and IWB, and CSI and IB, relationships. Based on the premise of interactionist perspectives on creativity, this study contributes to the literature proposing a distinctive model comprising five variables to investigate employees’ IWB from a multi-level perspective. This integrated model, using predictors from multiple levels, supports the theoretical assumption that IB results from employees’ CSE, CSI, and, finally, CPE. Distinct from the other literature, the study also portrays the moderating and mediating impact of CC and CPE simultaneously.

Can Mindfulness Improve Organizational Citizenship and Innovative Behaviors Through its Impact on Well-being Among Academics?

Mindfulness has received considerable interest due to its positive outcomes for individuals however our understanding of how it may also result in positive outcomes for organizations is not fully understood. Using data collected from university academics (N=255) in Northern Cyprus, we examine mindfulness as a factor that leads to Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) and Innovative Work Behaviors (IWB). We expect that eudaimonic well-being serves as the mechanism that links mindfulness to IWB and OCB. Our results show mindfulness improves eudaimonic well-being. Eudaimonic wellbeing fully mediates the Mindfulness - IWB relationship and partially mediates the Mindfulness - OCB relationship. Since the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of OCB and IWB for universities, our study has important implications for university managers and policymakers.

The Impact of Agile Management and Technology in Teaching and Practicing Physical Education and Sports

The context of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused educational institutions and sports clubs to change their management strategy. Due to the modernization of computer technology, physical education and sports (PES) teachers decided to include this technology in their teaching activity to help students and athletes to acquire PES-specific transversal skills and digital skills, and also to increase the attractiveness of the lessons. The present research aims at assessing the challenges and opportunities of technology and adopting an Agile Management style to improve the teaching, learning, and practice of PES. Therefore, a survey was conducted on PES teachers and trainers, as they have a clear perspective on the field and their views are therefore very important and relevant to our study, even if they do not have solutions for all the challenges facing them. They were asked to share their professional opinions regarding the implementation of digital methods and applications on the sportive results of performance sportsmen, athletes, and students. The survey, conducted on 144 respondents, contained mostly multiple-choice questions rated on a Likert scale and open-ended questions allowing respondents to offer solutions and express their opinion freely. This article demonstrates the positive influence of Agile Management in the choice and implementation of technology dedicated to PES.

Effects of managerial coaching on employees' creative performance: cross-level moderating role of a climate for innovation

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of managerial coaching (MC) on employee creative performance (CP) based on the knowledge transfer theory and the roles of creative process engagement (CPE) and climate for innovation (IC) in the relationship between MC and CP.

Design/methodology/approach

A moderated mediation model was developed and tested on a dyadic sample of 74 leaders and 292 employees working in South China firms.

Findings

The results show that CPE mediates the relationship between MC and CP and IC amplifies the indirect relationship between MC and CP via CPE.

Originality/value

This research contributes to the MC and innovation literature by clarifying the linking role of engagement in transferring MC into employees' CP from a knowledge transfer perspective and identifies the critical role of IC in effectuating the impact of MC on CP.

Can Leaders’ Humility Enhance Project Management Effectiveness? Interactive Effect of Top Management Support

This paper aims to explore the effect of humble leadership on project management effectiveness by integrating the mediating role of employee creativity. Top management support moderates the direct (humble leadership and project management effectiveness) and indirect relationships through employee creativity. Time-lagged data were obtained from 332 persons working in a matrix organization on sustainable information technology projects. The results show that humble leadership enhances project management effectiveness by mediating and moderating processes. This study provides a solution to an underlying research question that has gone unanswered in prior studies. What are the strategies proposed for humble leadership in fostering the effectiveness of project management?

Supply chain resilience in mindful humanitarian aid organizations: the role of big data analytics

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand the nomological network of associations between collective mindfulness and big data analytics in fostering resilient humanitarian relief supply chains.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conceptualize a research model grounded in literature and test the hypotheses using survey data collected from informants at humanitarian aid organizations in Africa and Europe.

Findings

The findings demonstrate that organizational mindfulness is key to enabling resilient humanitarian relief supply chains, as opposed to just big data analytics.

Originality/value

This is the first study to examine organizational mindfulness and big data analytics in the context of humanitarian relief supply chains.

A balanced view of mindfulness at work

Mindfulness has grown from an obscure subject to an immensely popular topic that is associated with numerous performance, health, and well-being benefits in organizations. However, this growth in popularity has generated a number of criticisms of mindfulness and a rather piecemeal approach to organizational research and practice on the subject. To advance both investigation and application, the present paper applies The Balance Framework to serve as an integrative scaffolding for considering mindfulness in organizations, helping to address some of the criticisms leveled against it. The Balance Framework specifies five forms of balance: 1) balance as tempered view, 2) balance as mid-range, 3) balance as complementarity, 4) balance as contextual sensitivity, and 5) balance among different levels of consciousness. Each form is applied to mindfulness at work with a discussion of relevant conceptual issues in addition to implications for research and practice.

Plain Language Summary

In order to appreciate the value of mindfulness at work researchers and practitioners might want to consider both the benefits and potential drawbacks of mindfulness. This paper presents a discussion of both the advantages and possible disadvantages of mindfulness at work organized in terms of the five dimensions of an organizing structure called The Balance Framework.

Effects of coworker's idiosyncratic deals on witness's creative process engagement: roles of responsibility for change and perceived exploitative leadership

Emerging research in the idiosyncratic deals literature is to examine its negative effects. Thus far, much remains unknown about how and when idiosyncratic deals are associated with employee creative process engagement. Invoking fairness heuristic theory and trait activation theory, we propose and test a model that coworker's idiosyncratic deals have a negative association with witness's creative process engagement through psychological contract violation. Furthermore, we theorize and test the combination of the responsibility for change and perceived exploitative leadership as important boundary conditions, associate interact with coworker's idiosyncratic deals to strengthen the positive impact on psychological contract violation, thereby reducing witness's creative process engagement. We use two time-lagged studies to provide support for these mediation and moderation effects, and also discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

The Relationship between Eco-Innovation and Smart Working as Support for Sustainable Management

Nowadays, firms have to face challenging economical cirses, like the one caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, where volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity are manifested. Strategic management is seen as one of the key approaches that firms can choose to implement sustainable smart working (on the support of Internet of Things and smart technologies) and to face global competition. In this article, as a response to the current crisis, we study the influence of Smart Working on Eco-innovation within EU 28 countries. Specifically, we evaluate the relationship between Eco-innovation index for EU 28 countries and Smart Working, by using a clustering analysis. The results show that the increased labor productivity and employees’ eco-innovation are associated, to a higher extent, with the companies agreeing to a flexible and comfortable environment. These companies agree with the introduction of special programs such as working from home. We also prove that Smart Working is implemented by innovative leaders gaining economic sustainability. This study also provides several theoretical and practical contributions. We provide (i) an overview of sustainable management, including the diverse theoretical and methodological perspectives; and (ii) the recommendation of an innovation model through the bilateral collaboration for the constructs of performant sustainable strategies.