Empowerment and creativity: A cross-level investigation

Li Yun Sun*, Zhen Zhang, Jin Qi, Zhen Xiong Chen

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    186 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Drawing upon social learning and self-determination theories, we hypothesized and tested a chain mediating process linking empowerment to employee creativity. Based on data from 385 employees working with 104 supervisors in multiple organizations in China, we conducted cross-level path analyses and found that (1) structural empowerment partially mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and psychological empowerment, (2) psychological empowerment fully mediated the relationship between structural empowerment and creativity, and (3) structural and psychological empowerment sequentially mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and creativity. This study integrated different perspectives of empowerment and provides important insights into the mechanisms linking empowerment with creativity.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)55-65
    Number of pages11
    JournalLeadership Quarterly
    Volume23
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Feb 2012

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Empowerment and creativity: A cross-level investigation'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this