Empowering leadership and employee creativity: the mediating roles of work engagement and knowledge sharing

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to investigate the relationship between empowering leadership and employee creativity and the mediating roles of work engagement and knowledge sharing in this relationship. Design/methodology/approach Using the results of a survey of 302 knowledge workers from a leading telecommunications company in South Korea, the relationships among the variables empowering leadership, work engagement and knowledge sharing on employee creativity were analyzed using conducted confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. This study conducted bootstrap analyses to test the mediating effects. Findings Empowering leadership was positively and significantly associated with work engagement and knowledge sharing. Work engagement was significantly related to knowledge sharing and employee creativity. In turn, knowledge sharing was significantly associated with employee creativity. The direct effect of empowering leadership on employee creativity was nonsignificant, but this study found a significant indirect effect of empowering leadership on employee creativity via the significant mediating roles of work engagement and knowledge sharing. Originality/value This study introduced empowering leadership that may work for knowledge workers who create new ideas by analyzing data from the knowledge workers’ perceptions of their leaders in the workplace. The intuitive linkage between work engagement and knowledge sharing was empirically verified in this study. This study’s findings and implications provide direction for knowledge workers and how their managers should support employees’ work environment and activities.

An Analysis of the Impact of Social Media Addiction on Academic Engagement of Students

“…Spending too much time alone in a virtual environment without interacting with others causes a lot of problems in society [12] . The value of schooling and academic performance of student is the topmost priority of all academic institutions [29] . Internet addiction can affect people of any age, but it affects students the most severely.…”

“…Emotional and cognitive preoccupation with the internet -It refers to a reliance on internet activities that is excessive [24] . A drive to use an online tool like a chatbox or Facebook to make oneself comfortable will often lead an individual to favor online interaction.…”

How does ethical leadership enhance employee work engagement? The roles of trust in leader and harmonious work passion

“…perceived organizational support, leadership, culture) resources that motivate employees to engage in their work (Kossyva et al, 2022;Truong et al, 2021;Lei et al, 2021). However, this study aims to unveil how ethical leadership help employees enhance their work engagement because Joo et al (2022) suggested that the literature on leadership and work engagement is scant and needs further attention. Ethical leadership is "the demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, and the promotion of such conduct to followers through two-way communication, reinforcement and decision-making" (Brown et al, 2005, p. 120).…”

“…, 2021). However, this study aims to unveil how ethical leadership help employees enhance their work engagement because Joo et al. (2022) suggested that the literature on leadership and work engagement is scant and needs further attention.…”

Going with the flow

“…Creativity is a feature many organizations wish to cultivate in their workforce, but it is sometimes a combined effort. Joo et al (2023) sought to identify the different ways that leadership can impact employee creativity.…”