Transformational leadership and employee creativity across cultures

Abstract

Purpose

The study compares the impact of four components of transformational leadership (TL), namely, idealized influence (II), inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation (IS), and individualized consideration (IC) on employee creativity (EC) at the workplace between Turkey and Algeria, taking into account the mediating effect of employee's creative role identity (CRI).

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 688 managers working for conglomerate companies in both countries and the analysis was performed using a two-stage structural equation modeling (SEM) for model and hypothesis testing.

Findings

The findings highlighted that managers from both countries have divergent stances toward TL’s impact on EC; Algerian managers recognized the impact relationship between CRI and EC. Meanwhile, Turkish managers believed in the efficiency of every component independently.

Research limitations/implications

When generalizing the research results, a debate might arise in regards to both the data collection instrument and the data being collected from two companies only. Therefore, upcoming research might opt for using further data collection methods and expand the data collection sources to cover larger targets.

Practical implications

The study's findings help in assisting managers and decision-makers in both countries into strategically adjusting their managerial approaches accordingly and appropriately stimulating EC at the workplace.

Social implications

The findings provided insights into elevating and strengthening a mere formal leader–member relationship to a personally satisfying and mutually beneficial social bond.

Originality/value

Throughout literature, the light was shed on the fundamental, yet, infrequently discussed link between TL components and employee CRI. The comparative nature and findings of our study could be considered building blocks for further academic research about leadership in both countries.

Citation

Kasımoğlu, M. and Ammari, D. (2020), "Transformational leadership and employee creativity across cultures", Journal of Management Development, Vol. 39 No. 4, pp. 475-498. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-05-2019-0153