The Impact of Leadership and Power on Perceptions of Creativity in the Workplace

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to empirically investigate the impact of leadership and power on perceptions of creativity in the workplace. The paper also investigates the level of prediction on perceptions of creativity in the workplace after having statistically controlled for the predictive effects of the leadership measures. Results indicate that participative, self-management and transformational leadership styles are capable of enhancing employees' autonomy and freedom and provide the necessary resources, goal clarity, intrinsic motivation and organisational encouragement that are conducive to creativity in organisations. The findings also suggest that the leadership style that defines structure and guides followers in a direction of established goals (e.g. initiating structure leadership) increases formal management structure and conservatism within organisations, which in turn impede creativity and innovQtion. Finally, it was found that the dimension of managerial power does not enhance perceptions of creativity in the workplace after having statistically controlled for the predictive effects of the leadership dimensions. The underlying themes of these findings are discussed.