The impact of authentic leadership on individual and team creativity: a multilevel perspective

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to develop and test a multilevel conceptual model which explains how authentic leadership (AL), through an innovative team atmosphere and promotion of self-efficacy, influences creativity. The study delineates two pathways from AL to creativity. The first pathway is an indirect effect through an innovative atmosphere at the team level and self-efficacy at the individual level, while the second pathway focuses on the moderating effect of AL between self-efficacy and individual creativity.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 58 team leaders and 283 employees in a creative industry park in the Yangtze River Delta region from China. Path analysis was conducted to test the proposed hypotheses using the statistical package M-plus (v. 7).

Findings

The results reveal that AL is an important antecedent of creativity. Furthermore, an innovation-based atmosphere at the team level mediates the theorized relationship between AL and individual creativity. However, creative self-efficacy at the individual level does not mediate this relationship. Finally, the study found that AL moderates the relationship between creative self-efficacy and individual creativity.

Originality/value

The implications of this study highlight important considerations for enterprises in creative industry parks within and beyond China. This study provides industry leaders with a clearer and more insightful and coherent means of understanding the mediating mechanism between AL and creativity, and the moderating effects of AL between individual self-efficacy and creativity through a new linkage model.

Citation

Lei, S., Qin, C., Ali, M., Freeman, S. and Shi-Jie, Z. (2021), "The impact of authentic leadership on individual and team creativity: a multilevel perspective", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 42 No. 4, pp. 644-662. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-12-2019-0519