The mechanism underlying the empowering leadership-creativity relationship

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explain how and under what condition empowering leadership is related to employee creativity from the social exchange and motivational perspective. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from a sample of 535 supervisor-subordinate dyads using online questionnaire survey. Findings Employee openness to experience (a creative personality) moderated the indirect effect of empowering leadership on employee creativity via either motivation to learn or trust in leader. The indirect effect of empowering leadership on creativity via motivation to learn occurs only for employees with lower level of openness to experience, whereas that via trust in leader occurs only for employees with higher level of openness to experience. Research limitations/implications Cross-sectional research design is a major concern. Practical implications The findings offer guidance to help practitioners or executives to stimulate subordinates motivation to increase their creative performance through learning and trust that matched with the individual’s openness to experience, thereby improving the effectiveness of empowering leadership. Originality/value This study extend our understanding on the mechanism linking empowering leadership and employee creativity by testing the mediating influences of motivation to learn and trust in leader and the moderating influence of openness to experience.