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Crafting job demands and employee creativity: A diary study
Author(s) -
Sun Shuhua,
Wang Nan,
Zhu Jinlong,
Song Zhaoli
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
human resource management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.888
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1099-050X
pISSN - 0090-4848
DOI - 10.1002/hrm.22013
Subject(s) - creativity , psychology , perspective (graphical) , social psychology , applied psychology , computer science , artificial intelligence
People are more creative on some days than others. Studying how individuals generate creative ideas from day to day could contribute to knowledge regarding the causes of such within‐person variations and have practical implications for improving employee creativity across time. By adopting a dynamic resource allocation perspective and a repeated‐measure diary design, we developed and examined a theoretical model focusing on the within‐person processes of employee creativity. Specifically, we hypothesized that momentary role‐breadth self‐efficacy predicts daily changes in increasing job challenges, which, in turn, predicts daily changes in employee creativity, and that the latter relationship is accentuated by decreasing hindering demands. Results, based on 818 pairs of matched morning–afternoon observations from 91 employees over 10 workdays, provided support for our predictions. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these results for improving employee daily creativity.