The purpose of this study is to verify the mediating effect of empowerment on the relation between job characteristics and creativity.
Considerable evidence indicates that employee creativity can fundamentally contribute to organizational innovation,...
The purpose of this study is to verify the mediating effect of empowerment on the relation between job characteristics and creativity.
Considerable evidence indicates that employee creativity can fundamentally contribute to organizational innovation, effectiveness, and survival(Amabile, 1996, Shalley, Zhou, & Oldham, 2004). Creativity refers to the production of novel and useful ideas by an individual or by a group of individuals working together(Aambile, 1988; Madjar, Oldham, & Pratt, 2002; Shalley, Gilson, & Blum, 2000; Zhou & Shalley, 2003). For creativity to occur in organizations, managers need to support and promote it, as they are the individuals who are most knowledgeable about which creativity can occur(Shalley & Gilson, 2004).
A survey was conducted to examine the mediating effect of empowerment on the relation between job characteristics and creativity on the responses of 363 employees. Sex, age, education, position, type and career were chosen as control variable, and the structure equation model which treated the job characteristics as independent variable and creativity as criterion variable were set. Empowerment was supposed as mediating variable of the relationship between job characteristics and creativity.
This study confirms that job characteristics have a direct influence on creativity at first. but It doesn't direct influence on creativity when it was controlled. This means that job characteristics directly met empowerment and empowerment also met creativity. These mean empowerment as mediator is complete mediation variable that job characteristics as independent variable no longer affects creativity as criterion variable after empowerment has been controlled. These results are different from the prior researches which had treated job characteristics as independent variable and creativity as criterion variable.
This difference may be from the property of control variable. If this thesis got the survey from R&D researcher, It would be better. The future study should consider the properties of these variables and other a variables.