Unlocking the creative potential of health-care employees: a serial mediation model

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to investigate the mediating roles of servant leadership and employee vitality in the relationship between psychological ownership and employee creativity among healthcare workers in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 736 public and private healthcare respondents was selected using a convenience sampling technique. Data collected using a self-reported questionnaire was analyzed via partial least square structural equation modeling. Findings The findings reveal that psychological ownership directly improves employee creativity, while servant leadership and employee vitality mediate the relationship between psychological ownership and employee creativity separately and complementarily. Research limitations/implications The research used self-reported data, increasing the potential for common method variance. However, sufficient care was taken to minimize these limitations. Practical implications This research makes valuable contributions to the field of healthcare practice literature. The findings suggest that management of health care entities should focus on creating a workplace culture that cultivates psychological ownership among employees and policies that enhance employee vitality and promote servant behavior to foster employee creativity. Originality/value This study represents one of the earliest attempts to examine a theoretical framework that connects servant leadership, employee vitality, employee creativity and psychological ownership within the context of the health service industry.