The influence of perceived organizational support on employee creativity: The mediating role of work engagement

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between perceived organizational support and employee creativity mediated by work engagement. We report the results from a questionnaire survey on a sample of 492 professional employees (219, 44.51% females and 273, 55.49% males) employed in two major industries in the United Kingdom. Our findings based on regression analysis show that work engagement mediates the relationship between perceived organizational support and employee creativity. In summary, employees who experience perceived organizational support will promote work engagement and employee creativity more so than employees with low levels of perceived organizational support. We contribute to knowledge by proposing an overall theoretical background to organizational support theory and the job demands-resources model by incorporating social exchange theory. To-date, very few studies have examined the role of work engagement in the relationship between perceived organizational support and employee creativity. While researchers know how perceived organizational support effects employees’ commitment, productivity, satisfaction and turnover intention, this study concentrates on how perceived organizational support leads to employee creativity.