Explaining Employee Creativity: The Roles of Knowledge-sharing Efforts and Organizational Context

This study contributes to creativity research by investigating the link between employees’ knowledge-sharing efforts and creativity and how this link is moderated by two aspects of relationship quality (informality and emotional openness) and by the belief that organizational decision making is marked by destructive political maneuvers. It theorizes that the usefulness of knowledge-sharing efforts for stimulating creativity is higher when employees maintain informal relationships with their colleagues and feel comfortable in expressing a diverse range of emotions with them. In addition, extensive knowledge-sharing efforts are less likely to enhance creativity when employees believe that organizational decision making is guided by destructive political games. Finally, the harmful effect of perceived organizational politics on the knowledge-sharing efforts-creativity relationship is mitigated when employees can rely on high levels of relationship quality. The results provide empirical support for these pred...