The Influences of Employees’ Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Perceptions, Perceived Organisational Support, and Inclusive Leadership on Employee Creativity: the Mediating Role of Psychological Safety

Lim, Evon (2024) The Influences of Employees’ Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Perceptions, Perceived Organisational Support, and Inclusive Leadership on Employee Creativity: the Mediating Role of Psychological Safety. Masters thesis, Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology.

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Abstract

Employee creativity is increasingly recognised as a vital and enduring source of competitive advantage essential for organisations to not only survive but thrive in today’s dynamic and fiercely competitive business landscape, characterised by rapid technological advancements, and short product life cycles, which presents numerous challenges for organisations striving to maintain their competitive edge. Organisations must take steps to preserve their competitive position in the market. Due to the growing importance of creativity, contemporary organisations are placing an attention on harnessing and unlocking the creative potential of their employees to drive meaningful innovation through their creative ideas or imaginative concepts. Moreover, given that creativity serves as the foundational stage of innovation, employee creativity has emerged as a critical determinant in achieving organisational innovation, sustained prosperity, and long-term viability. Consequently, organisations are actively seeking to unlock and maximise the creative potential of their workforce, recognising them as a sustainable source of competitive advantage that enriches organisational performance and creates unique business value that is challenging for competitors to replicate. This research examines how employees’ perceptions on corporate social responsibility (CSR), perceived organisational support, and inclusive leadership impact employee creativity using pertinent theories from sociology and psychology. The study also explores whether psychological safety plays a mediating role in these relationships. To achieve these objectives, a quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted among 254 employees from diverse job roles in Malaysian companies spanning various industries. The data obtained are then analysed by utilising advanced statistical tools, including IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 29.0 and Partial Least Square- Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) via SmartPLS 4.0. The research findings demonstrate that employees’ perceptions of CSR and inclusive leadership play crucial roles in predicting employee creativity within Malaysian workplaces respectively. Notably, the study reveals an intriguing pattern where perceived organisational support indirectly impacts employee creativity, operating through the mechanism of psychological safety. Specifically, psychological safety partially mediates the relationships between employees’ perceptions of CSR and inclusive leadership with employee creativity respectively. Moreover, it fully mediates the relationship between perceived organisational support and employee creativity. These results emphasise how organisational factors and psychological dynamics shape creative outcomes among employees in Malaysia. From a practical perspective, this study emphasises the need for organisations to broaden their corporate social responsibility strategies beyond philanthropy. It highlights the importance of supporting employee creativity, recognising diminishing returns of positive organisational attributes, addressing cultural factors, accommodating individual differences, and providing ongoing training to promote creative engagement. Additionally, organisations should promote inclusive leadership through training and recruitment practices, aligning organisational goals and support with managerial behaviours to enhance employee creative performance. The findings from this study validate the theoretical framework and hold implications for both research and practical applications. Furthermore, limitations of this research study have been acknowledged, and specific recommendations are outlined for future studies in this area