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The Influence Of Organizational Creativity Encouragement On Employee Creativity:the Mediating Effect Of Role Identity And Self-Efficacy

Posted on:2012-10-17Degree:DoctorType:Dissertation
Country:ChinaCandidate:J YangFull Text:PDF
GTID:1109330482452254Subject:Business Administration
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
As the outset of organizational innovation, creativity is also the foundation of competitive advantage. In the dynamic environment full of fierce competitions and rapid changes, enterprises need to introduce new products and services to meet the diverse needs of the market through innovation, which is the best way to succeed. Innovation, which means new product developing or new service models and production methods applying, is the results of the implementing of ideas. As for ideas, some may be focus on a gradual process for optimizing productions, and some may be related to a serious breakthrough in the key product development. Therefore, not only R&D department of high-tech industry, but also the other organizations in traditional industries cannot to survive without the creative employees. Creativity is the key to seeking innovation and development.However, creativity is a complex phenomenon. It depends on personal knowledge, skill, motivation, and also be affected by organizational factors. As new working methods can’t certainly be adopted and improve performance, the employees need to prepare for taking risks and facing the failure. Most of the time creativity is not clearly required inside the task performance, thus creativity is a "difficult" choice for employees. In the organization, encouragement for creativity has the crucial influence on idea generating, which will demonstrate that creativity is be approved and trying the new method is upheld. The support of superiors and colleagues also show their expectation to employees’ creativity, which affect creativity directly. Because of employee psychological cognition has intense effects on creativity, the joint consequents of organizational and personal factors on creativity are still being explored, and the black boxes is unpacked. Based on creativity theory, social cognitive theory, planned behavior theory and role identity theory, this research attempts to analyze the mechanism of employee creativity, and to reveal the process how employees interpret the organization encourages for innovation and choose to do the work creatively as consequents.In this study, we focus on creativity to explore the characteristics, influential factors and mechanism of employee creativity in China. We consider that organizational encourage and its three sub-dimensions affect on creativity in different degrees, and psychological cognition is the important mediator between supports and creativity. Based on theoretical analysis, we propose that the management practice could improve the creativity. After systematically reviewing the creativity theory, this study inducts the individual and organizational factors which influence employee creativity. Inspired by the classical creativity models, we analyze the relationship between the organizational creativity encourage, creative role identity, creative self-efficacy and creativity so as to construct a theoretical framework about organizational encouragement on creativity via role identity and self-efficacy. In this study we adopt the mature scales developed by western scholars and tested by the Chinese samples in mainland or in Taiwan to measure the constructs, except for organizational encouragement. As for organizational encouragement, we reference the organizational creative climate scale devised by Taiwanese scholars in their researches about China. We collect the survey data by facilitating investigation, and the data of pilot survey are used to test the internal consistency reliability and validity of original scales so as to adjust the scales fitting with the model. In empirical analysis, we conduct the variance analysis, correlation analysis, regression analysis and structural equation model analysis to test creative role identity, creative self-efficacy are the mediators between organizational encouragement and creativity, and demonstrate that the creative role identity influence the creativity via the mediating effect of creative self-efficacy as well.The results reveal:1) Age, department characteristics and length of work time have the partial control effect on the support of organization, superiors and colleagues; gender, age and position have the partial control effect on the creative role identity, creative self-efficacy and creativity.2) Organizational creativity encouragement and its three sub-dimensions have the significant positive relationship with creative role identity. The rank of influential degree by strength is support by colleagues, by organization and by superiors. Organizational creativity encouragement and its sub-dimensions have the significant positive relationship with creative self-efficacy. The rank of influential degree by strength is support by superiors, by colleagues, and by organization.3) Compared to creative self-efficacy, the influence of creative role identity on creativity is more significant. Creative self-efficacy acts the mediating role between role identity and creativity.4) Creative role identity has the mediating effect separately between organizational support, colleagues and creativity. Creative self-efficacy is the mediator between supervisors support and creativity.This study demonstrates the psychological processes and mechanisms of stimulating employee creativity, and provides important Chinese samples to creativity study, which will theoretically support the management practice of promoting creativity in China. This dissertation may have three contributions:1)By comparing the different effects between the sub-dimensions of organizational creativity encouragement on role identity, self-efficacy and creativity, the research of creativity encouragement will be intensified.2) By exploring the different indirectly paths on creativity from the sub-dimensions of organizational creativity encouragement through role identity and self-efficacy, the mechanism of promoting creativity will be enriched.3)Also by comparing the different effects of role identity and self-efficacy on creativity, this study finds the role identity influences creativity as mediating effect of self-efficacy. These endeavors supply the complementary views and evidences to the theory of self and creativity. In the transition economy, as China aspires to reconfigure its economic development model, this research conclusion has important theoretical and practical significance to stimulate employee creativity and to enhance the capability of independent innovation for companies.
Keywords/Search Tags:Organizational creativity encouragement, creative role identity, creative self-efficacy, creativity
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