How to Gain Prime Performance? Lessons from the Pandemic

The significant effects of perceived organizational support, employee engagement, and employee creativity on organizational performance have been widely studied, but their interrelationships and the potential mediating role of employee creativity remain unexplored, especially in the context of state-owned companies in developing countries. This study aimed to investigate the direct and indirect effects of perceived organizational support and employee engagement on organizational performance, with employee creativity as the mediating variable.The research was conducted in an Indonesian state-owned company operating in the non-banking sector, using a quantitative approach and structural equation modeling. The findings revealed that perceived organizational support and employee engagement positively influenced employee creativity, while employee engagement had a direct positive effect on organizational performance. However,perceived organizational support did not directly affect organizational performance. Importantly, employee creativity fully mediated the relationship between perceived organizational support and organizational performance, and partially mediated the relationship between employee engagement and organizational performance. The study highlights the critical role of employee creativity in driving organizational performance, particularly in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era, and provides insights for practitioners and policymakers in optimizing organizational performance through fostering employee creativity.