Abstract This study investigates how and under which circumstances paradoxical leadership promotes employees’ radical creativity in organizations confronting severe competitive challenges. Drawing upon sensemaking theory, we empirically analyse survey data from 84 team leaders and 419 team members in mainland China. Specifically, we examine the impact of paradoxical leadership on radical creativity, the mediating roles of creative role identity and creative work engagement, and the moderating role of perceived organizational valuing of creativity (POVC). The results show that paradoxical leadership enhances employees’ radical creativity by fostering their creative role identity and creative work engagement. Furthermore, POVC serves as a boundary condition for this effect. By integrating sensemaking theory, this paper clarifies two underlying mechanisms through which paradoxical leadership influences employees’ radical creativity, thereby offering valuable contributions on paradoxical leadership and creativity literature. Additionally, by investigating the moderating effect of POVC, this research deepens our understanding of the contextual factors that amplify the positive effect of paradoxical leadership on employees’ creative performance.
Zhang et al. (2026) studied this question.