Authoritarian leadership and employee creativity: The moderating role of psychological capital and the mediating role of fear and defensive silence

Liang Guo, Stijn Decoster, Mayowa T. Babalola, Leander De Schutter, Omale A. Garba, Katrin Riisla

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Drawing from the transactional theory of stress, we examined the relationships between authoritarian leadership, fear, defensive silence, and ultimately employee creativity. We also explored the moderating effect of employee psychological capital on these mediated relationships. We tested our hypothesized model in two studies of employee-supervisor dyads working in Africa (Nigeria; Study 1) and Asia (China; Study 2). The results of Study 1 revealed that the negative relationship between authoritarian leadership and creativity was mediated by employee defensive silence. Extending these findings in a three-wave study in Study 2, our results revealed a more complex relationship. Specifically, our results showed that both fear and defensive silence serially mediated the link between authoritarian leadership and employee creativity. In addition, we found that this mediated relationship was moderated by employee psychological capital such that the relationship was stronger when psychological capital was low (versus high). Implications for both theory and practice are discussed.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)219-230
Number of pages12
JournalJournal of Business Research
Volume92
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2018
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright: © 2018 Elsevier Inc.

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