Authentic Leadership, Leader-Member Exchange, Job Thriving and Creativity in the Public Sector

Abstract

Purpose: Leadership is undeniably connected to desirable employee outcomes, yet the specific pathways through which authentic leadership explicate influence on creativity is underexplored. The study examined the relationship between authentic leadership and creativity with job thriving and leader-member exchange as a mediator and a moderator respectively. Design/Method/Approach (only for empirical papers): Data were collected from 269 mid-level employees randomly sampled from the Delta State Ministry of Health in Nigeria. The partial least square (PLS) method was adopted as the analytical tool for hypothesis testing. Findings: The results demonstrate that authentic leadership had a non-significant relationship with creativity except through job thriving. Further, the moderated mediation result shows that leader-member exchange strengthened the relationship between job thriving and creativity, and enhanced the positive influences of authentic leadership in a creativity context. Theoretical Implications: The study provided plausible evidence on the pathways through which authentic leadership, as a positive form of leadership, explicate influence on creativity, wherein job thriving and leader-member exchange interact as contextual variables. Practical Implications: Public organisations should introduce regular leadership training to enable managers learn behaviours that would enhance their authenticity at work. An assessment can be integrated to the leadership training programmes to ensure its efficacy. Originality/Value: Not all employees are motivated to engage in creative work in bureaucratised settings due to the leadership behaviour in practice. This study demonstrated how authentic leadership engenders creativity through the enhancement of certain contextual variables: job thriving and leader-member exchange. Research Limitations/Future Research: This research was limited to a specific public organisation and Nigerian State. Although, the empirical information, provided herein, may be insightful and have applicable value to other public organisations as well as Nigerian States, it is important to replicate this research with a broader sample and geographic spread to improve its generality. The study relied on cross-sectional data which may offer little explanations on the causality effects among the latent variables, future research works should consider a longitudinal research approach for clearer and concrete inferences.