Unpacking the chain mediation process between transformational leadership and knowledge worker creative performance: evidence from China

Abstract

Purpose 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. Design/methodology/approach 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. Findings 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. Practical implications 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. Originality/value 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).