A multilevel investigation of the cascading effect of entrepreneurial leadership on employee creativity: Evidence from Chinese hospitality and tourism firms

This study aims to elucidate the cascading effect of entrepreneurial leadership on fostering employee creativity in hospitality and tourism firms. Drawing upon multiple theories (e.g., the affective events theory and conservation of resources theory) and utilizing a multilevel mediation model, this study predicts and examines the cross-level indirect relationship between entrepreneurial leadership and employee creativity, which is sequentially transmitted through employees' surface acting and work-related flow. Based on a 2-wave longitudinal design, survey data were obtained from multiple sources consisting of 47 leaders and 352 employees in Chinese hospitality and tourism firms. Multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) analysis provides empirical support for the crosslevel mediation model. This study is among the first to provide empirical evidence of the cross-level effect of entrepreneurial leadership on workplace creativity via surface acting and work-related flow in the service industry, which enriches the leadership literature in the tourism discipline.

Automated summary

This study examines the cascading effect of entrepreneurial leadership on employee creativity in the hospitality and tourism industry. The findings reveal that entrepreneurial leadership has a cross-level indirect relationship with employee creativity, which is transmitted through surface acting and work-related flow. This study contributes to the leadership literature in the tourism discipline by providing empirical evidence of the cross-level effect of entrepreneurial leadership on workplace creativity.