Proactive Personality and Employee Creativity: A Moderated Mediation Model of Multisource Information Exchange and LMX

Abstract

Integrating the social perspective of creativity and the goal-regulatory process perspective of proactivity, this study investigates how proactive personality influences two forms of employee creativity-incremental creativity and radical creativity through multisource information exchange. Using a moderated mediation framework, this study suggests that leader-member exchange (LMX) moderates the positive association between proactive personality and those two forms of employee creativity. The results of this study, drawn from the sample of 500 employees and their immediate supervisors in a large state-owned company of China, support most of the hypotheses. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings, as well as the limitations of this study and the directions for future research, are discussed.

Proactive personality, transformational leadership and ethical standards: influences on radical creativity

“…Research on the relationship between proactive personality and specific dimensions of creativity is scarce (Zhang et al, 2021). Scholars have urged the exploration of the correlation between personality traits and the multi-dimensional structure of creativity to reconcile differences in the unified standard domain of creativity (Xu et al, 2022;Gilson et al, 2012), as it "should move our understanding forward" (Malik et al, 2019).…”

“…Incremental creativity involves modifying and adding creative forms that are better suited to current requirements, whereas radical creativity involves revolutionary changes that disrupt the status quo (Gilson et al, 2012;Petrou and Jongerling, 2022). Incremental creativity emphasises adaptation or minor changes and often involves modifications to established frameworks and slight adjustments to existing practices and products (Zhang et al, 2021). In contrast, radical creativity has the potential to Personality and creativity 25 create new market demand and change the competitive environment through significant changes to existing products, services or processes (Geng et al, 2022;Petrou et al, 2023).…”

“…Recent research indicates that, in comparison to incremental creativity, there exists a stronger correlation between proactive personality and radical creativity (Waheed and Ghulam, 2019). However, research on this topic has primarily been conducted in Western societies (Kim et al, 2009;Gong et al, 2010) or with samples from organisations with a singular feature (Zhang et al, 2021). Wang et al (2022) conducted a correlational study using a Chinese sample; however, they did not provide direct findings regarding the relationship between these two variables.…”

How Ambidextrous Human Resource System Affect Employee Creativity? A Study in the Pakistani Context

“…In addition, the findings suggest that individual employees' OBSE is also a significant intervening mechanism to enhance employee creativity by considering AHRS as an important antecedent. OBSE can also help to promote intrinsic motivation to enable employees to behave in a more creative way, which are important to the success of an organisation (Zhang et al, 2021). The result is built on the idea presented by Zhang et al (2018); they argue that the effect of the HR system is not just reciprocal; in fact, it influences employees' self-worth.…”

Relationships between proactive personality and creativity: Mindsets and golden mean thinking as parallel mediators among Chinese third language students

“…Highly proactive individuals adapt to their surroundings and grab the opportunity to address difficulties or enhance their performance with innovative ideas and new approaches ( Bateman and Crant, 1993 ; Seibert et al, 2001 ; Kim et al, 2009 ). Moreover, employees with a proactive personality tend to build energy, inspiration, and motivation, making them more engaged and creative at their work and able to recognize issues and devise solutions to them ( Crant, 2000 ; Bakker et al, 2018 ; Zhang et al, 2021 ; Karimi et al, 2022 ). However, it should be noted that most studies on the relationship between proactive personality and creativity have focused on only the work and organizational field.…”