The curvilinear effect of employee-experienced market-based HR systems on employee creativity in the Chinese context

Drawing on the cognitive evaluation theory, we examine the mediated curvilinear relationship between employee-experienced market-based human resource (HR) systems and creativity. Having used a sample consisting of 356 supervisor–subordinate dyads from Chinese companies, our study found employee-experienced market-based HR systems to have an inverted U-shaped relationship with employee creativity. We also found market-based HR systems to indirectly influence employee creativity via psychological safety, with there being an inverted U-shaped path from the systems to psychological safety. This study broadens the knowledge about the effects of market-based HR systems as a type of strategic human resource management and provides insights on how market-based HR systems influence employee creativity in emerging economies, such as in the Chinese context.