Umble Leadership Perspective on Creative Performance: The Mediating Role of Psychological Safety Climate and the Moderating Effect of LMX

This study aimed to investigate how humble leadership influences creative performance by mediating the psychological safety climate and the moderating role of leader-member exchange (LMX). We hypothesized that humble leadership could positively foster a psychological safety climate, thereby enhancing creative performance, and that LMX would strengthen this positive effect of humble leadership. Using quantitative research methods, this study surveyed 684 ordinary white-collar employees in China and analyzed the collected data using structural equation modeling and multiple linear regression. Overall, the results supported all of the hypotheses. Humble leadership had a positive effect on both psychological safety climate and creative performance. There was also a positive effect on psychological safety climate and creative performance. Finally, psychological safety climate acted as a mediator between humble leadership and creative performance. When LMX levels were high, the positive effect of humble leadership on psychological safety climate became more noticeable. The conclusions of this study indicate that humble leadership is an effective means to promote employees' creative performance as it operates through shaping a psychologically safe work environment, while high-quality LMX relationships can further enhance this effect.