The Mediation Effect of Ethical Leadership and Creative Performance: A Social Information Processing Perspective

Drawing upon social information processing theory, the study examined how ethical leadership shapes creative performance. Specifically, we tested a theoretical model integrating the sequential roles of psychological safety and creative self-efficacy. A two-waved sample of 512 supervisor-subordinate dyads from frontline employees of three service industries located in Ghana was administered. The results of the hierarchical linear modeling analysis revealed that there is a positive relationship between ethical leadership and creative performance and that psychological safety positively and significantly mediates the relationship between ethical leadership and creative performance. Similarly, creative self-efficacy significantly and positively mediates the relationship between ethical leadership and creative performance. Moreover, both psychological safety and creative self-efficacy sequentially mediate the relationship between ethical leadership and creative performance. We discuss the implications of these results for research and practice.

Automated summary

Drawing on social information processing theory, the study examined the impact of ethical leadership on creative performance, finding that psychological safety and creative self-efficacy play mediating roles. The results have important implications for both research and practice.