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Does Moral Leadership Enhance Employee Creativity? Employee Identification with Leader and Leader–Member Exchange (LMX) in the Chinese Context

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Abstract

In this article, drawing from a relational perspective, we explore the relationship between moral leadership and employee creativity, treat employee identification with leader and leader–member exchange (LMX) as two mediators, and develop a new theoretical model of employee creativity. Our data collected from 160 supervisor–subordinate dyads in the People’s Republic of China demonstrate that moral leadership is positively related to both employee identification with leader and LMX. Further, employee identification with leader partially mediates the relationship between moral leadership and LMX. In particular, employee identification with leader greatly enhances LMX which leads to high creativity. Overall, the relationship between moral leadership and employee creativity is mediated by not only employee identification with leader but also LMX. Our findings offer a new theoretical framework for future theory development and testing on creativity as well as practical implications for researchers and managers in business ethics.

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Fig. 1
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Notes

  1. To anyone who has, more will be given, and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. (Matthew 13: 12) See also The Parable of the Talents, Matthew 25: 14–30.

  2. We “aspire” to please him (2 Corinthians 5: 9).

  3. They acted with complete honesty (2 Kings 12:15).

  4. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist…. Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me” (John 13: 5, 8).

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Acknowledgment

We would like to thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China for a Grant awarded to the first author (Grant No. 71032003). The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the National Natural Science Foundation of China. We also would like to thank Anne S. Tsui for her insightful comments on the conceptual design of this research.

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Correspondence to Thomas Li-Ping Tang.

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Gu, Q., Tang, T.LP. & Jiang, W. Does Moral Leadership Enhance Employee Creativity? Employee Identification with Leader and Leader–Member Exchange (LMX) in the Chinese Context. J Bus Ethics 126, 513–529 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1967-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1967-9

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