1、EMPLOYEE LEARNING ORIENTATION, TRANSFORMATIONALLEADERSHIP, AND EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY:THE MEDIATING ROLE OF EMPLOYEECREATIVE SELF-EFFICACYYAPING GONGThe Hong Kong University of Science and TechnologyJIA-CHI HUANGNational Chengchi UniversityJIING-LIH FARHThe Hong Kong University of Science and Technolog
2、yWe examined the relationship between employee creativity and job performance. Further-more, we identified two learning-related personal and situational variablesemployeelearning orientation and transformational leadershipand examined their effects onemployee creativity through employee creative sel
3、f-efficacy. We found that employeecreativity was positively related to employee sales and to supervisor-rated employee jobperformance. Employee learning orientation and transformational leadership were posi-tively related to employee creativity, and these relationships were mediated by employeecreat
4、ive self-efficacy. We discuss the implications of these findings for creativity theoryand research, as well as for management practice.Researchers have suggested that creativitythegeneration of novel and useful ideas (Amabile,1988, 1996)is critical for organizations survivaland competitiveness (e.g.
5、, George Oldham Zhou, 1998). Drivenby the assumption that employee creativity is ben-eficial for work outcomes, researchers have de-voted considerable attention to identifying its an-tecedents, but they have shown much less interestin its effects (Mumford, 2003; Zhou Shin Dweck Heine et al.,2001; Li
6、, 2002). Hence, we drew our sample fromTaiwan.To understand the discrepant findings of paststudies, it is helpful to delve into the mechanismthrough which transformational leadership and alearning orientation affect individual creativity. Itmay be that the conditions needed for mediation todevelop a
7、nd exert an effect were present in Shinand Zhou (2003), but not in Jaussi and Dionne(2003) or in Redmond et al. (2003). For example,the subjects in Jaussi and Dionnes (2003) experi-ment had limited interactions with their leader,who was an experimental confederate. The media-tor through which transf
8、ormational leadership ex-erts its influence may not have had time to develop.By examining potential mediators, we may betterunderstand why expected influences on creativityhave been observed in some studies but not inothers. With the exception of Shin and Zhou(2003), prior research has not investiga
9、ted the psy-chological mechanisms that bring forth creativity.Shin and Zhou (2003) found that intrinsic motiva-tion (i.e., interest and enjoyment; Ryan and Deci2000) partially mediated the influence of transfor-mational leadership on creativity, giving rise to thepossibility of there being other med
10、iators of thisrelationship (Shalley, Zhou, Deci investigate the effects oftransformational leadership and employee learningorientation on employee creativity using a im-proved design; elucidate employee creative self-effi-cacy as a mediator of the influence of transforma-tional leadership and employ
11、ee learning orientationon employee creativity; and test for this mediationusing a Taiwanese sample in which the motivationfor self-improvement is likely to be particularlysalient. Accordingly, our study goes above and be-yond past studies in several respects. First, we ex-amine transformational lead
12、ership on the part ofactual leaders in the workplace (not experimentalconfederates) and the actual (versus manipulated)learning orientation of their employees. We alsoadopt a temporally lagged design for measuringtransformational leadership and employee creativ-ity rather than a cross-sectional desi
13、gn (e.g., Shin Kruglanski et al., 2000), and learn-ing has been linked to creativity (Amabile for example, Farmer, Tierney, and Kung-Mc-Intyre (2003) discussed creative role identity in thisregard; George and Zhou (2002) were concernedwith mood; Oldham and Cummings (1996) dis-cussed job complexity;
14、and Shalley (1995) was con-cerned with a creativity goal. These potential pre-dictors are, however, unrelated to actions intendedto promote learning. We examine antecedents toemployee creativity with a learning perspective inmind. Moreover, we study creative self-efficacy asmediator for three reason
15、s. First, self-efficacy hasbeen found to be a vital “driver” of performance ina variety of task domains (Bandura, 1986, 1997).Given our interest in creativity and the domain-specific nature of self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997), weexamine employee creative self-efficacy as the psy-chological mechanism be
16、hind creativity. Second,studies have documented a positive relationshipbetween creative self-efficacy and creativity (Tier-ney and finally, we believethat individuals creative self-efficacy will behigher if they are high (versus low) in learningorientation and/or when they come under the in-fluence
17、of transformational leaders.766 AugustAcademy of Management JournalLITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESESEffects of Employee Creativity on EmployeeJob PerformanceResearch on the link between creativity and per-formance is sparse and has been constrained toacademic settings (for a review, see Gilson 2008).
18、For example, Chamorro-Premuzic (2006) found apositive relationship between creative thinking andfinal dissertation grades in a sample of students.Notwithstanding the lack of direct empirical evi-dence from the corporate world, we expect a posi-tive relationship between employee creativity andjob per
19、formance. Specifically, when employees ex-hibit creativity at work, they generate novel re-sponses that are useful in dealing with the tasks athand (Amabile, 1983, 1996). Creative responsesmay include devising new procedures or processesfor carrying out tasks, or identifying products orservices to b
20、etter meet customer needs (Zhou, 1998;Zhou Dweck VandeWalle, Brown,Cron, therefore, it stands out as animportant internal drive for enactive mastery. Indi-viduals with a learning orientation seek challengesthat provide them with learning opportunities(Ames Kozlowski, Gully, Brown, Salas, Smith, Gard
21、ner, 1993; Hayes, 1989).Therefore, we hypothesize:Hypothesis 2. Employee learning orientation ispositively related to employee creativity.Leadership is an important aspect of the workenvironment for employees (e.g., Oldham Scott Bass,1985; Dvir et al., 2002). Such a developmental ori-entation should
22、 enhance employee learning, andthus creativity. As research has shown the fourdimensions of transformational leadership to behighly correlated and to thereby reflect a higher-order construct of leadership (e.g., Avolio, Bass, Dweck Bass Shalley,Gilson, (2) delivering seminars addressing topics of co
23、n-cern to clients, their relatives, and friends (e.g.,changes in the retirement system and tax saving),and designing custom-made insurance products(e.g., insurance products for tax saving) as part ofthese seminars; and (3) deliberately choosing tourgroups for sightseeing to maximize opportunities to
24、meet potential new clients. Four items measuringemployee creativity were developed on the basis ofconsensus among focus group participants; the“Measures” section and Table 1 present theseitems. These items were used to complement theemployee creativity measure drawn from Oldhamand Cummings (1996).Ma
25、in Study DesignFor the main study, we selected 277 insuranceagents out of a total of 554 possible agents by ran-domly picking every other name from a list. Imme-diately before the start of the fourth quarter (time1), we administered to the selected agents a surveycontaining questions about their lea
26、rning orienta-tion and their demographic profile. In the fourthweek of the quarter (time 2), we administered an-other survey to the same agents to assess their cre-ative self-efficacy. Because a small number of newagents had joined the company in the fourth quar-ter, we measured transformational lea
27、dership atTABLE 1Results of Exploratory Factor Analysis for Employee Creativity and Supervisor-Rated Employee Job PerformanceaItems Factor 1 Factor 2Employee creativity1. This person often develops creative custom-made product/service packages for clients. .67 .112. This person often uses creativity
28、 to develop new clients through different means and channels. .75 .013. This person often uses creativity to increase sales forces in different ways. .73 .084. This person often develops creative methods for promotion and sales. .87 .075. This persons work is creative. .89 .016. This persons work is
29、 original and practical. .83 .077. This persons work is adaptive and practical. .67 .22Employee job performance8. This person makes significant contributions to the overall performance of our work unit. .28 .589. This person is one of the best employees in our work unit. .12 .7710. This person alway
30、s completes job assignments on time. .08 .9911. This persons work performance always meets the expectations of the supervisor. .02 .95Percentage of variance explained 65.90 10.23aThe factor analysis was conducted using maximum-likelihood extraction and oblique rotation. nH11005200. Boldface indicate
31、s significantloadings.2009 769Gong, Huang, and Farhtime 2 so that the new hires would have hadenough time to observe their supervisors transfor-mational leadership. Since the new hires were onboard at the date of the time 1 data collection, theirlearning orientation was assessed at that time. Atthe
32、end of the fourth quarter (time 3), we asked theagents immediate supervisors to rate each agentscreativity and overall job performance. All of thesurvey instruments were administered in Chinese,which was the language spoken by the respon-dents. A total of 200 agents and 111 immediatesupervisors resp
33、onded to the three surveys (a 72percent response rate).To supplement the rating of the agents job per-formance by the supervisors, we obtained data onthe fourth-quarter sales of the agents from the com-pany archives after the main study had been com-pleted. We also obtained data on the third-quarter
34、sales of the same agents from the company ar-chives. The number of agents with valid sales datawas 178. The ranks of the respondents ranged fromlow-level agents to senior sales managers. The av-erage age was 36.94 years; the average companytenure and insurance business experience were46.40 and 52.65
35、 months, respectively. Of the insur-ance agents, 41 percent were male and 59 percentwere female. About 16 percent had middle schooleducations: 43 percent had high school educations;and 41 percent had university educations.MeasuresEmployee creativity. We adapted the three-itememployee creativity meas
36、ure of Oldham and Cum-mings (1996) for this study. Because the meaning ofcreativity varies in different cultures and domains(e.g., Niu Farh H9251 H11005 .98) and sample items: idealized influ-ence (attributed) (e.g., “My supervisor acts in waysthat build my respect”); idealized influence (behav-ior)
37、 (e.g., “My supervisor talks to us about his/hermost important values and beliefs”); inspirationalmotivation (e.g., “My supervisor expresses his/herconfidence that we will achieve our goals”); indi-vidualized consideration (e.g., “My supervisorspends time teaching and coaching me”); and in-tellectua
38、l stimulation (e.g., “My supervisor seeksdiffering perspectives when solving problems”).We dropped two items that had low loadings in theexploratory factor analysis. Confirmatory factor770 AugustAcademy of Management Journalanalysis on the remaining items indicated a satis-factory fit (H92732H11005
39、585.91, df H11005 130, RMSR H11005 .05,CFI H11005 .96, IFI H11005 .96, NFI H11005 .96, TLI H11005 .96).Employee creative self-efficacy. We used Tier-ney and Farmers (2002) four-item measure of cre-ative self-efficacy (H9251 H11005 .91). The insurance agentsindicated the extent to which they felt tha
40、t eachstatement described how they felt about their cre-ative ability. Sample items included, “I have con-fidence in my ability to solve problems creatively”and “I feel that I am good at generating novel ideas”(1, “strongly disagree,” to 7, “strongly agree”). Con-firmatory factor analysis indicated
41、a satisfactory fit(H92732H110056.92, dfH110052, RMSRH11005.02, CFIH11005.99, IFIH11005.99,NFI H11005 .99, TLI H11005 .97).Control variables. In testing the hypotheses, wecontrolled for age (in years), gender, educationlevel (1H11005“middle school,” 2H11005“high school,” and3 H11005 “university”), ra
42、nk (1 H11005 “entry level salesagents,” 5 H11005 “senior sales managers”), companytenure (in months), and insurance business experi-ence (in months). Research suggests that rank isrelated to involvement in innovation activities andthe generation of creative ideas (as rated by inde-pendent judges) (e
43、.g., Ibarra, 1993; Tierney, Farmer,Tierney et al.,1999). Second, we wanted to conduct a more rigor-ous test of the impact of employee learning orien-tation at time 1 on employee creativity at time 3. Todo this, it was helpful to control for knowledge andexperience before time 1. We controlled for ag
44、e andtenure because they were included in prior creativ-ity research (e.g., Scott Tierney r H11005 .18, p H11021.01, respectively) and employee creative self-effi-cacy (r H11005 .37, p H11021 .01; r H11005 .17, p H11021 .05, respec-tively). Employee creative self-efficacy was posi-tively related to
45、employee creativity (r H11005 .24,p H11021 .01).Hypothesis TestingBecause insurance agents were partially nestedwithin supervisors, we used hierarchical linearmodeling (HLM) to account for potential noninde-pendence of the observations. Ordinary leastsquare (OLS) regression may not take into account
46、the nested nature of individual-level data (Bliese for the fourth quarter, raw mean salesH11005NT$2,651,233, s.d. H11005 1,159,244.04.2009 771Gong, Huang, and Farhables, because transformational leadership wasmeasured in terms of the perception of each indi-vidual agent. In this case, we accounted f
47、or thenesting effect by allowing a random intercept. Weconducted the analyses using hierarchical linearand nonlinear modeling, version 6 (HLM6) (Rau-denbush, Bryk, H9253 H11005 .13, p H11021 .05,respectively). In step 2, both employee learningorientation and transformational leadership hada signific
48、ant relationship with employee creativ-ity (H9253H11005.18, pH11021.01; H9253H11005.10, pH11021.05, respectively).The results from step 2 thus supported Hypotheses23. When employee creative self-efficacy wasadded to the equation in step 3, employee learningorientation and transformational leadership
49、 wereno longer significant at the conventional level, butemployee creative self-efficacy remained signifi-cant (H9253 H11005 .09, p H11021 .05). The combined results fromsteps 13 supported Hypotheses 45.To further test Hypotheses 45 (the two media-tion hypotheses), we performed the Sobel test,which provides a direct test of the indirect effect ofan independent variable on the dependent variablethrough the mediator (MacKinnon, Lockwood,Hoffman, West, Preacher Sobel, 1982). To perform the test, we em-ployed the bootstrapping approach, thereby mak-ing no assumption about t
