Creativity and innovation through LMX and personal initiative

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine empirically the influence of leader-member exchange (LMX) on employees’ creativity and innovation. In addition, this study investigated the moderating role of employees’ personal initiative on the associations. Design/methodology/approach Data were gathered from 1,221 employees working in organizations across various industries in Australia. Findings The findings of this study revealed positive and significant relationships between LMX and employees’ creativity and innovation. Also, the findings indicated employees’ personal initiative moderated the LMX-employees’ creativity and LMX-employees’ innovation relationships. Practical implications Organizations should invest in LMX training and in the selection of leaders with this leadership style if their aim is to nurture and intensify employees’ creativity and innovation. They also should invest in personal initiative training in order to amplify the effect of LMX on creativity and innovation in organization. Originality/value This study makes vital theoretical contributions in different ways. In the domain of creativity and innovation, it addresses factors that impact employees’ creativity and innovation. It expands knowledge about organizational resources that nurture and enhance the creativity and innovation of employees. For LMX, this study supplements existing research by examining employees’ creativity and innovation as outcomes. Also, identifying personal initiative as an amplifier of the LMX-employees’ creativity and innovation relationships extends research in that domain. This study is also a rare investigation of the Australian context.

Leader‐Member Exchange (LMX) and innovation: A test of competing hypotheses

“…As pointed out earlier, although there is support for a relation between LMX and innovation, the results are not consistent (Khalili, 2018). As Carnevale et al (2017) put it: "Therefore, a very real question that needs to be asked is whether LMX is really significant in the promotion of individual innovative behavior, or whether this effect is being driven by the overlap on creativity in these measures" (p. 538).…”

“…The relationship between LMX and innovation has been considered before, but this research has failed to provide a clear and consistent answer regarding the strength and nature of this relationship (Khalili, 2018). Indeed, some studies report a direct effect of LMX on innovation (e.g.…”

From LMX to Individual Creativity: Interactive Effect of Engagement and Job Complexity

“…Taken together, this manuscript contributes to the recent literature focusing on analyzing the influence of LMX on individual creativity by testing a moderated mediation model and illuminating the process model linking LMX to individual creativity [4,13,21,25].…”

“…In the current knowledge economy, individual creativity (i.e., "the production of novel and useful ideas by an individual" [1] (p. 126)) has become crucial to firms [2][3][4]. As their context is characterized by strong competition and the scarcity of resources, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) increasingly depend on employees' ideas for their longer-term survival and to achieve a competitive advantage [5].…”

“…Although creativity and innovation are conceptually different, they are closely related constructs [11,12]. Individual creativity focuses on the generation of new and useful ideas, while innovative behavior also encompasses their application [2,4,13]. Some scholars (e.g., Amabile [14], Janssen [15], and Scott and Bruce [16]) consider creativity to be the first phase of the innovation process, which also encompasses the promotion of ideas and their realization.…”