Giving Rise to Creative Leadership: Contextual Enablers and Redundancies

Abstract

Creative leadership plays a key role in realizing the competitive advantage of creativity for organizations, yet little is known about the contextual factors that give rise to creative leadership. We propose a model that includes enabling contextual variables that facilitate individuals with the motivation to lead for creativity to engage in creative leadership. In addition, building on substitutes for leadership theory, contextual redundancies that reduce the necessity for creative leadership as a means for realizing creative outcomes are proposed. This model provides new insights about the role of contextual enablers and redundancies at the organizational and external environmental levels of analysis for creative leadership. Theoretical and practical implications of this model are also discussed.