Leadership, Creative Problem-Solving Capacity, and Creative Performance: the Importance of Knowledge Sharing

LEADERSHIP, CREATIVE PROBLEM-SOLVING CAPACITY, AND CREATIVE PERFORMANCE: THE IMPORTANCE OF KNOWLEDGE SHARING

ABRAHAM CARMELI, ROY GELBARD, AND R O N I R E I T E R - PA L M O N

This article presents two studies that examine whether leader supportive behaviors facilitate knowledge sharing and employee creative problemsolving capacity, thereby enhancing creative performance. The findings from both studies indicate that leader supportive behaviors are directly and indirectly related, through both internal and external knowledge sharing, to employee creative problem-solving capacity. In addition, creative problem solving was related to the two dimensions of creative performance—fluency and originality. However, a test of the mediation model indicated that creative problem solving only mediated the relationship between internal knowledge sharing creative performance and originality. These findings highlight the complex process by which leaders facilitate both internal and external knowledge sharing and employee creative problem-solving capacity, thereby improving employee creative performance.

Keywords: creative problem-solving capacity, creativity, knowledge sharing, leadership

Correspondence to: Abraham Carmeli, Faculty of Management, Tel Aviv University, Ramat-Aviv, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel, Phone: +972-3-640-6335, Fax: +972-3-640-9983, E-mail: avic@post.tau.ac.il.

Human Resource Management, January–February 2013, Vol. 52, No. 1. Pp. 95–122 © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI:10.1002/hrm.21514

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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, JANUARY–FEBRUARY 2013

Introduction

rganizations constantly seek ways to facilitate and enhance creative, innovative behaviors among their employees, and in gaining and sustaining a competitive edge in today’s marketplace. This has led to abundant theoretical and empirical literature on what enables or hinders employee creativity in such fields as human Knowledge sharing...