Climate for innovation and employee creativity

Abstract

Purpose This study proposes a moderated mediation model that examines the roles that openness to change and psychological capital (PsyCap) may play in the relationship between climate for innovation and employee creativity. Design/methodology/approach Path modeling analysis with software Mplus 7 is conducted to test our moderated mediation model. Findings The results show that climate for innovation promotes openness to change, which in turn encourages employee creativity, and PsyCap moderates not only the relationship between climate for innovation and openness to change but also the indirect effect of climate for innovation on employee creativity through openness to change. Research limitations/implications Although we attempt to avoid common method bias by collecting data in two waves, the six-month time interval separating the two waves of data collection may not be long enough to detect the causal relationship between climate for innovation and employee creativity. In addition, this study is conducted in companies located in China, which may raise the question of generalizability to other cultures. Originality/value The main contribution is building a moderated mediation model to uncover the potential mediating mechanism and boundary conditions associated with the influence of climate for innovation on employee creativity.