A curvilinear relationship between transformational leadership and employee creativity

Abstract

Purpose

This study examined a curvilinear and moderated relationship between transformational leadership and employee creative performance in a real-world setting by drawing from the too-much-of-a-good-thing effect and the substitutes for leadership perspectives.

Design/methodology/approach

We used multisource data collected from 232 employees and their immediate supervisors to test all hypotheses.

Findings

We found empirical support for an inverted U-shaped relationship between transformational leadership and employee creative performance. Moreover, job factor (i.e. job formalization) and individual differences (i.e. power distance) moderated the curvilinear relationship, such that the curvilinear relationship was more pronounced with lower job formalization or higher power distance of employees.

Originality/value

Our findings shed light on the inconsistent reports of transformational leadership's effects on employee creativity in previous studies. We extended substitutes for leadership perspective by providing a more systematic view for future research on how leadership and its substitutes jointly influence employee outcomes.

Citation

Ma, X., Jiang, W., Wang, L. and Xiong, J. (2020), "A curvilinear relationship between transformational leadership and employee creativity", Management Decision, Vol. 58 No. 7, pp. 1355-1373. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-07-2017-0653