Authentic Leadership, Leader-Member Exchange, Job Thriving and Creativity Nexus from Public Organisation Context

Abstract

Purpose: The study is aimed at examining authentic leadership influences on creativity in a public organisation given job thriving and leader-member exchange as a mediator and a moderator respectively. Design/Method/Approach: The cross-sectional research design was adopted with data collected via a structured questionnaire from 269 mid-level employees who were healthcare professionals working in hospitals and primary healthcare centres under the purview of the Delta State Ministry of Health in Nigeria. The partial least square (PLS) method was adopted as the analytical tool for hypothesis testing. This structural equation modelling (SEM) method was performed with SMARTPLS 3.3.3 software. Findings: The results demonstrate that authentic leadership has a non-significant relationship with creativity except through job thriving. Further, the moderated mediation result shows that leader-member exchange strengthens the relationship between job thriving and creativity and enhances positive influences of authentic leadership in a creativity context. Theoretical Implications: The study provides plausible evidence on the pathways through which authentic leadership, as a positive form of leadership, explicates 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 to learn behaviours that would enhance their authenticity at work. An assessment can be integrated into leadership training programmes to ensure its efficacy. Originality/Value: Not all employees are motivated to engage in creative work in bureaucratized settings due to the leadership behaviour in practice. This study demonstrates 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 for 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 relies on cross-sectional data which may offer little explanations of causality effects among the latent variables, future research works should consider a longitudinal research approach for clearer and concrete inferences. Paper Type: Empirical JEL Classification: L32, M10, O31