Relationship between transformational leadership, proactive personality, creative self-efficacy and employee creativity at food processing SMEs in Indonesia
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EBHRM-03-2021-0033 |
| Published date | 07 February 2022 |
| Date | 07 February 2022 |
| Pages | 257-274 |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM |
| Author | Aletta Dewi Maria,Heru Yulianto,Dyah Palupiningtyas,Heri Usodo |
Relationship between
transformational leadership,
proactive personality, creative
self-efficacy and employee
creativity at food processing SMEs
in Indonesia
Aletta Dewi Maria
Hospitality Department, STIEPARI Semarang, Semarang, Indonesia
Heru Yulianto
Master of Management Department, STIEPARI Semarang, Semarang, Indonesia
Dyah Palupiningtyas
Management Department, STIEPARI Semarang, Semarang, Indonesia, and
Heri Usodo
Master of Management Department, STIEPARI Semarang, Semarang, Indonesia
Abstract
Purpose –This study aims to determine the effect of transformational leadership and creative self-efficacy
(CSE) on employee creativity. In addition, this study will also discuss the role of CSE as a mediator in the
relationshipbetween transformationalleadership and employee creativity, and the role of proactive personality
as a moderator in the relationship between CSE and employee creativity.
Design/methodology/approach –The research samples were 102 supervisors and 876 employees from 102
small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) engaged in the food processing industry in three major cities in
Central Java, Indonesia, namely Semarang, Salatiga and Surakarta. SPSS 22 was used to test the research
hypothesis using hierarchical regression analysis.
Findings –The results showed that CSE mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and
employee creativity. In addition, the results also showed that proactive personality acted as a moderator for
CSE and employee creativity.
Research limitations/implications –This study has several limitations. First, that the sample size is
limited only to food processing SMEs. Second, questionnaires were self-reported by respondents. Self-reporting
may not always result in reliable and accurate responses. Lastly, this study uses a cross-sectional research
design.
Practical implications –This study presents strong theoretical and managerial implications that can be
used by food processing SMEs to evaluate the consequences of transformational leadership, proactive
personality, and CSE on employee creativity.
Originality/value –This study adds to the existing literature by describing the relationship between
transformational leadership, CSE, proactive personality and employee creativity in a comprehensive manner.
Keywords Transformational leadership, Creative self-efficacy, Proactive personality, Employee creativity,
Food processing SMEs
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Research on the factors that influence employee job-related outcomes has always been an
important area of concern in the field of organizational research (Chi and Pan, 2012). However,
in the past two decades, results related to employee creativity have received great attention
due to their positive and negative consequences, which directly affect the productivity of the
The effect
of creative
self-efficacy
257
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Received 4 March 2021
Revised 31 July 2021
17 October 2021
25 December 2021
Accepted 21 January 2022
Evidence-based HRM: a Global
Forum for Empirical Scholarship
Vol. 10 No. 3, 2022
pp. 257-274
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2049-3983
DOI10.1108/EBHRM-03-2021-0033
company (Liu et al., 2016;Hughes et al., 2018). For example, in food processing small and
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Indonesia, employee creativity has emerged as a key
sector. Food processing SMEs have taken center stage and have played a major role in
increasing and maintaining national gross domestic product (GDP).
Central Java Province is the center of trade and industry with leading sectors in
manufacturing, agricultureand tourism. In terms of the rate of economicgrowth, Central Java
has increasedquite significantlyby 5.5% in 2018 to 5.8% in 2019 (Badan PusatStatistik, 2019).
Thiscauses the community’seconomic growth rateto be very high. Manysmall industrieshave
grown, whichhave supported the rateof economic growth to increase,such as in the processed
food and beverage sector. Several regions in Central Java are devoted to the development of
these industries; however,not all of them can becomecenters of every industrialsector but can
be adapted to the conditions of each region,for example in food processing SMEs.
Currently, food processing SMEs are faced with the challenge of increasing employee
creativity (Amabile et al., 2005;Awasthy and Gupta, 2011). Employees are considered a key
factor in food processing SMEs, so today’s corporate leaders face the challenge of balancing
important aspects, such as the need to motivate employees and develop their creative skills so
that they can consistently deliver quality and performance in a timely manner. On the other
hand, the industry needs to build a creative work environment so that the results of creative
work can help achieve a competitive advantage over other companies (Oldham and
Cummings, 1996;George and Zhou, 2002). Tierney and Farmer (2011) also reported that to
maintain sustainable growth and success, companies need to support employee creativity by
developing creative self-efficacy (CSE).
Some researchers believe that employee creativity can be enhanced by transformational
leadership (Jaussi and Dionne, 2003;Shin and Zhou, 2003). Leaders primarily work to initiate
employees’creative abilities so that they can find creative solutions to any problems that
occur. Bass (1985) states that transformational leaders have a clear vision for their company
and also have the skills to encourage employees to start thinking in new ways to find creative
solutions to specific problems. Transformational leaders tend to encourage their followers to
deliver results that exceed the expected level, which is made possible through higher
employee trust and values (Chi and Pan, 2012). Through this research, we tried to analyze the
relationship between transformational leadership and employee creativity.
Several studies have also found that proactive personality can have a big effect on
individual creativity (Bateman and Crant, 1993;Belschak et al., 2010). A study conducted by
Baba et al. (2009) found an important mediating role for CSE in predicting employee
creativity. This study will discuss the problem of creativity through CSE and proactive
personality in food processing SMEs in Indonesia.
This study examines that transformational leadership can play an important role in
developing employee CSE in food processing SMEs in Indonesia and its impact on developing
their creativity. It has been seen that SMEs play an important role in increasing the GDP of
developing countries, like Indonesia (MacGregor and Kartiwi, 2010). In addition, several
studies have shown that the role of SMEs in driving Indonesia’s economic growth is so
significant that it can be considered the backbone of the economy. Overall, this study
contributes to the literature on transformational leadership by linking it to CSE and its
subsequent effects on nurturing employee creativity through proactive personality in the
context of food processing SMEs in Indonesia.
2. Literature review and hypotheses
2.1 Transformational leadership
Transformational leadership style has been widely used as a very important dependent
variable and studied in hundreds of research projects, and its effects as a theory are well
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