Transformation leadership and creativity. Effects of employees pyschological empowerment and intrinsic motivation
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-11-2017-0354 |
| Pages | 1082-1099 |
| Date | 02 August 2019 |
| Published date | 02 August 2019 |
| Author | Jaithen Abdullah Al Harbi,Saud Alarifi,Aissa Mosbah |
| Subject Matter | Hr & organizational behaviour |
Transformation leadership
and creativity
Effects of employees pyschological
empowerment and intrinsic motivation
Jaithen Abdullah Al Harbi
Department of Management and Marketing,
College of Business and Economics, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
Saud Alarifi
Independent Writer, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and
Aissa Mosbah
Faculty of Business Management and Professional Studies,
Management and Science University, Shah Alam, Malaysia
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to examine empirically the effect of transformational leadership on
followers’inventiveness and organizational innovation. It studies transformational leadership and innovation
at the organizational level and creativity at the individual level.
Design/methodology/approach –A theoretical model was created, which entailed the development of
variables and hypotheses. A survey instrument was used to obtain data, through a self-completion
questionnaire.The final sample wasmade up of 503 individuals, recruited using a randomsampling technique.
Findings –The results showed that transformational leadership has a significant positive relationship with
both followers’creativity and organizational innovation. Furthermore, a significant positive relationship was
found between followers’creativity and organizational innovation. In addition, the relationship between
transformational leadership and followers’creativity, through the mediating role of employees’psychological
empowerment, support for innovation, workplace relationships and employee learning, was also found to be
both positive and significant. However, the data showed that intrinsic motivation does not significantly affect
the relationship between transformational leadership and creativity.
Practical implications –The study provides guidance to organizations that need to change their
leadership style and approach, as well as their innovation and creativity mechanisms, at a strategic level. The
resulting guidance provides organizations with insight into how they can improve the creativity of their
employees through motivating, supporting and inspiring them.
Originality/value –This study is an attempt to illustrate the extent to which transformational leadership
can affect organizational innovation in Saudi Arabia, specifically in the public sector, and to explore how
employees’creativity can be improved. This research is beneficial for academics, organizations and policy
makers, especially in the Gulf countries.
Keywords Quantitative, Transformational leadership, Saudi Arabia, Intrinsic motivation,
Employees empowerment
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Leadership is an important factor that influences followers’attitudes and behaviors toward
the organizational goals. It always articulates future visions, supports to build up one-to-one
relationships and raise the interest of followers. However, transformational leadership is
concerned with the creative and innovative aspects of employees and organizations.
Employees’creativity is known as an important factor for the organizational goals. It
supports individuals to existing and foresees problems with the remedies through
leadership creative ideas, thinking and experience. On the contrary, transformational
leadership creates self-confidence, intrinsic motivation, inspirations, creative endeavors and
supports innovation, personal development and social relationships among employees.
Personnel Review
Vol. 48 No. 5, 2019
pp. 1082-1099
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/PR-11-2017-0354
Received 22 November 2017
Revised 26 May 2018
17 October 2018
22 November 2018
2 December 2018
Accepted 16 December 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0048-3486.htm
1082
PR
48,5
Possessing these factors among employees is more likely to add to their flexibility and
perseverance. These factors support employees’creativity that is being attracted to and
interested in a task for new and better ways of doing things. To this extent, employee’s
empowerment, intrinsic motivation, support for innovation and social relationships play an
important role in transformational leadership and creativity. However, while the existing
evidences tend to show direct relationships between these factors and employees’creativity,
less empirical research has so far supported the mediatory role of these factors among
transformational leadership and employees’creativity in general and in the Gulf countries
context in specific (Gumusluoglu and Ilsev, 2009). Considering this gap research, the current
study aims to achieve the following objectives:
•to examine the relationship between transformational leadership and followers’
creativity; and
•to examine the mediatory role of employee intrinsic motivation between
transformational leadership and followers’creativity.
Motivation is an essential component of any reliable model of human performance
(Pinder, 2011) and has been a central focus of business and organizational psychology for
many years (Steers et al., 2004). It is a core component of healthcare systems (Franco
et al., 2002), a critical matter for academic performance (Hidi and Harackiewicz, 2000)
and a pivotal issue in personal health and well-being (Fisher et al., 2003). It is arguably the
number one problem facing many organizations (Watson, 1994). Although an exact
understanding of motivation continues to change (Kanfer et al., 2008), motivational
forces can be defined for applied purposes as either extrinsic or intrinsic (Pinder, 2011),
guiding the direction, intensity and persistence of performance behaviors (Kanfer et al.,
2008). Extrinsically motivated behaviors are governed by the prospect of instrumental
gain and loss (e.g. incentives), whereas intrinsically motivated behaviors are engaged
for their very own sake (e.g. task enjoyment), not being instrumental toward some
other outcome.
Few studies have revealed the relationship between transformational leadership and
employees creativity through the mediation of employee awareness of support for
innovation, positive and negative affectivity, essential incentive (e.g. García-Morales et al.,
2012; Gong et al., 2009; Si and Wei, 2012). The literature also witnesses that the available
research studies have been conducted in developed culture, but no such study have been
found in Gulf countries. Following the literature, this study is conducted in the Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia and aims to answer the following questions:
RQ1. What is the role of employees’perception of support for innovation, empowerment,
intrinsic motivation in the relationship between transformational leadership and
followers’creativity?
RQ2. What is the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational
innovation?
The literature reveals that creativity of followers and organizational innovation can be
unequivocally influenced by leaders. Many empirical studies also showed that perception
of support for innovation and psychological empowerment are key sources of employee
creativity (Teirney, 1999; Gumusluoglu and Ilsev, 2009). A transformational leader
authorizes his supporters, increases organizational achievement and cultivates an
“innovative climate.”Gumusluoglu and Ilsev (2009, p. 462) highlight the research dearth in
investigating the reconciling roles of “empowerment and innovative climate in the
relationship between transformational leadership and followers’creativity.”To fill this
gap, this study proposes that an employee perception of support for innovation,
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creativity
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