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Exchange ideology and employee creativity: a moderated mediation analysis

Zhigang Song (School of Management, Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, Shanghai, China)
Qinxuan Gu (Department of Organizational Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China)

Management Decision

ISSN: 0025-1747

Article publication date: 27 February 2020

Issue publication date: 4 September 2020

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between exchange ideology and employee creativity based on the social exchange perspective. It also attempts to examine the mediating role of perceived shared leadership and the moderating role of vertical moral leadership.

Design/methodology/approach

Multilevel and multisource data were collected from 56 research and development (R&D) teams with 306 employees. Hypotheses were tested with multilevel path analysis.

Findings

The authors found that exchange ideology was negatively related to both perceived shared leadership and employee creativity, and perceived shared leadership mediated the relationship between exchange ideology and employee creativity. Moreover, we revealed that vertical moral leadership buffered the negative relationship between employee exchange ideology and perceived shared leadership and also the indirect effect of exchange ideology on employee creativity via perceived shared leadership.

Research limitations/implications

Organizations should select employees with a relatively weak exchange ideology when forming teams to conduct creative tasks. Moreover, team leaders should make great efforts to facilitate the development of shared leadership among team members while to be a moral leader.

Originality/value

This study extends creativity literature by investigating the effect of exchange ideology on employee creativity. It also sheds lights on leadership research by examining the mediating role of perceived shared leadership and the moderating role of vertical moral leadership.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71472122).

Citation

Song, Z. and Gu, Q. (2020), "Exchange ideology and employee creativity: a moderated mediation analysis", Management Decision, Vol. 58 No. 7, pp. 1375-1395. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-09-2017-0866

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

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