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This paper aims to draw upon motivated information processing theory to examine the sequential mediating roles of perspective taking and boundary spanning between transformational leadership and the creative performance of knowledge workers.

The study was carried out on a sample, including a dyad of 398 knowledge workers and their immediate supervisors in four research institutes in southwest China. The authors tested the theoretical model using structural equation modeling (SEM) and Mplus 7.0 software.

The results support the mediation model in which perspective taking was found to significantly and positively mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and boundary spanning. Boundary spanning was found to significantly and positively mediate the relationship between perspective taking and creative performance. Moreover, both perspective taking and boundary spanning were found to mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and creative performance.

The study findings imply that the transformational leadership behaviors of managers or supervisors nurture knowledge workers' perspective taking and their boundary spanning activities leading to creative performance.

The findings contribute new knowledge to the relationship between transformational leadership and creative performance by uncovering the causal chain of a cognitive mechanism (perspective taking) with a behavioral mechanism (boundary spanning).

The purpose of this paper is to draw upon social information processing theory to examine the sequential mediating roles of psychological safety and creative process engagement between participative leadership on creativity.

Using a time-lagged sample of 526 supervisor–subordinate dyads from R&D teams of five enterprises located in the southwest part of China, we tested the theoretical model using structural equation modelling (SEM) as well as with the MPLUS 7.0 software.

Results indicated that participative leadership is positively related to creative process engagement; psychological safety significantly mediates the relationship between participative leadership and creative process engagement; creative process engagement significantly mediates the relationship between psychological safety and employee creativity; psychological safety and creative process engagement sequentially mediates the relationship between participative leadership and creativity.

The study findings imply that the participative leadership behaviors of managers or supervisor's nurtures employees psychological safety to take risk and promotes employee engagement in creativity relevant ventures leading to creativity.

The findings contribute new knowledge on the relationship between participative leadership and creativity by uncovering the causal chain of a cognitive mechanism (psychological safety) with a behavioral mechanism (creative process engagement).