The influence of transformational leadership on employees’ creative process engagement

Purpose Using a multi-level perspective, the purpose of this paper is to investigate impact of transformational leadership on employees’ creative process engagement and mediating roles of intrinsic motivation, task complexity and innovation support in the process of influence. Design/methodology/approach This study follows a quantitative method. Using a multi-item survey instrument, a total of 400 questionnaires were distributed among employees of small and medium enterprises registered with the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Bangladesh. Collected data were analyzed using structural equation model as well as factor analysis and path analysis to test the hypotheses and to assess the moderating and mediating effects of the variables. Findings The findings reveal that transformational leadership has a significant impact on employees’ creative process engagement. The study further shows that task complexity and support for innovation moderate the relationship between transformational leadership and employees’ creative process engagement. Research limitations/implications Based on the premises of interactionist perspectives on creativity, this study integrates multi-level variables to investigate leaders’ influences on followers’ creative process engagement. This study contributes to the existing literature by providing empirical evidence on influence of transformational leadership on employees’ creative process engagement as well as the impact of both individual- and organizational-level variables. Originality/value The study adopts a distinct model comprising five different variables to investigate creative process engagement from a multi-level perspective, i.e., creative process engagement and intrinsic motivation at the individual level, task complexity at the unit level, and support for innovation and leadership at the organizational level. This integrated model of using predictors from multiple levels supports the theoretical assumptions that creative process engagement results from the interaction of individual-, group- and organizational-level factors.