Enhancing employee creativity via individual skill development and team knowledge sharing: Influences of dual-focused transformational leadership

Addressing the challenges faced by team leaders in fostering both individual and team creativity, this research developed and tested a multilevel model connecting dual-focused transformational leadership (TFL) and creativity and incorporating intervening mechanisms at the two levels. Using multilevel, multisource survey data from individual members, team leaders, and direct supervisors in high-technology firms, we found that individual-focused TFL had a positive indirect effect on individual creativity via individual skill development, whereas team-focused TFL impacted team creativity partially through its influence on team knowledge sharing. We also found that knowledge sharing constituted a cross-level contextual factor that moderated the relationship among individual-focused TFL, skill development, and individual creativity. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of this research and offer suggestions for future research.