Person-Environment Fit and Employee Creativity: The Moderating Role of Multicultural Experience

Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated the positive effects of congruent personal and environmental characteristics on creativity. None of them, however, has tested the formal theory of person-environment fit for predicting creativity in the context of multicultural experiences. This study examined the effects of two versions of person-environment fit (Demands-abilities fit and Needs-supplies fit) on employee creativity in China, taking into account the moderating role of multicultural experiences. The results, based on the data of East Asian Social Survey in the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) in 2015, showed employees with demands-abilities fit have lower creativity than those with demands-abilities misfit; nevertheless, the demands-abilities fit creates a growing impact on employee creativity with increasing multicultural experience. Additionally, the higher the needs-supplies fit, the stronger the employee creativity; and, the needs-supplies fit creates a growing impact on employee creativity with increasing multicultural experience. It shows that different versions of person–environment fit have different effects on employee creativity and multicultural experience moderated the effects of person-environment fit on employee creativity. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Gender-specific temporal trends in overweight prevalence among Chinese adults: a hierarchical age-period-cohort analysis from 2008 to 2015

“…Data were collected from the CGSS, which was a repeated cross-sectional survey in China. A detailed procedure about CGSS has been described previously [25,26]. Briefly, this survey has been conducted since 2003, using a multi-stage stratified probability proportionate to size sampling method to investigate Chinese adults (age ≥ 18).…”

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“…If employees feel their company attaches great importance to innovation, this will give them the belief that conducting innovative actions is encouraged; even if their innovation fails, they will not be punished, the subjective efforts of the employees will be stimulated and they will try innovative methods actively (Hommel et al, 2011). Conversely, if employees believe that the organization does not value innovation as they say, or that they will suffer big losses if they fail, then employees will be unlikely to try innovative and new processes or methods (Wang and Wang, 2018). Humorous leadership plays an important role in the creation of an organizational innovation atmosphere; in such an atmosphere, subordinates feel free to develop, communicate, and implement their ideas without any fear of negative consequences (Carmeli et al, 2010).…”

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“…This example highlights how multicultural experiences and exposure to new cultures inspire new ideas. Multicultural experiences refer to all direct and indirect experiences of contact or interaction with elements and/or members of foreign cultures (Hu, Gu, Liu, & Huang, 2017); such experiences can facilitate the performance of individual creativity by improving individual enlightenment learning, distance imagination and concept formation and by generating novel ideas through unfamiliar culture (Wang & Wang, 2018). Under these circumstances, individuals draw new ideas from different cultures and integrate them in novel ways in problem-solving scenarios.…”

“…Under these circumstances, individuals draw new ideas from different cultures and integrate them in novel ways in problem-solving scenarios. Integrating seemingly unrelated concepts in different cultures helps to extend the conceptual category in the brain (Maddux, Adam, & Galinsky, 2010;Wang & Wang, 2018). summarized Maddux's and other scholars' studies (de Bloom, Ritter, Kühnel, Reinders, & Geurts, 2014;Fee & Gray, 2012;Maddux & Galinsky, 2009;Yi, Hu, Scheithauer, & Niu, 2013) and concluded that both long-term and short-term multicultural experiences can boost individual creativity and that improvement in cognitive fluency is among the most obvious outcomes.…”

“…In addition, when individuals are exposed to foreign cultures with a learning mindset, they might elicit a comprehensive emotional response, such as the recognition of some excellent qualities or admiration for some achievements in foreign cultures, which can also enhance creativity (Cheng, Leung, & Wu, 2011). In conclusion, in this era of globalization, multicultural experiences will create important cognitive benefits (Cheng et al, 2011;Wang & Wang, 2018).…”