Leader-Member Exchange and Employee Creativity: Test of a Multilevel Moderated Mediation Model

Drawing on self-determination and social exchange theories, the study examined the mechanisms through which leader-member exchange (LMX) influences employee creativity. Data were obtained from 367 leader-follower dyads at three manufacturing companies in the People's Republic of China. The results of our study revealed that (a) motivation-oriented psychological empowerment and social exchange-oriented felt obligation fully mediate the relationship between LMX and employee creativity, and (b) work-unit structure moderates the indirect effect of LMX on creativity through psychological empowerment, such that the mediated effect of LMX is stronger in organic than in mechanistic work-unit structure.