After-Hours Work Challenges and Employee Creativity: A Moderated Mediation Model
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. The Literature Review and Hypothesis Development
3. Materials and Methods
- After-Hours Work Challenges: A 6-item scale developed by Preenen et al. [24] was used to measure after-hours work challenges. A sample item is “My supervisor provides me with after-hours work that is challenging.” The alpha (α) for the after-hours work challenge scale was 0.86;
- Perceived Insider Status: A 6-item scale developed by Stamper and Masterson [19] was adopted to measure perceived insider status. A sample item is “I feel very much a part of my work organization.” The alpha (α) for the perceived insider status scale was 0.82;
- Creativity: A 4-item scale developed by Farmer et al. [5] was adopted to measure creativity. A sample item is “I can generate groundbreaking ideas related to the field.” The alpha (α) for the creativity scale was 0.75;
- Servant Leadership: A 7-item scale developed by Liden et al. [37] was adopted to measure servant leadership. A sample item is “My leader makes my career development a priority.” The alpha (α) for the servant leadership scale was 0.80;
- Control Variables: Employee characteristics that may affect creativity and perceived insider status, including gender, age, education, and organizational tenure, were controlled for in the statistical analysis.
4. Results
4.1. Common Method Variance
4.2. Discriminant Validity
4.3. Descriptive Statistical Analysis
4.4. Hypothesis Testing
5. Discussion
5.1. Theoretical Contributions
5.2. Practical Implications
5.3. Limitations and Future Research
6. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
Appendix A
- After-Hours Work Challenge (source: [24]).My supervisor provides me with after-hours assignments
- (1)
- that are challenging;
- (2)
- in which I have to deal with new situations and challenges;
- (3)
- that are high in responsibilities;
- (4)
- of which success and failure are clearly visible to other people;
- (5)
- that require multiple skills;
- (6)
- in which I have to deal with many different people.
- Servant Leadership (Source: [37]).
- (1)
- My manager can tell if something work-related is going wrong;
- (2)
- My manager makes my career development a priority;
- (3)
- I would seek help from my manager if I had a personal problem;
- (4)
- My manager emphasizes the importance of giving back to the community;
- (5)
- My manager puts my best interests ahead of his/her own;
- (6)
- My manager gives me the freedom to handle difficult situations in the way that I feel is best;
- (7)
- My manager would NOT compromise ethical principles in order to achieve success.
- Employee Creativity (Source: [5]).
- (1)
- I try new ideas or methods first;
- (2)
- I seek new ideas and ways to solve problems;
- (3)
- I generate ground-breaking ideas related to the field;
- (4)
- I am a good role model for creativity.
- Perceived insider status (Source: [19]).
- (1)
- I feel very much a part of my work organization;
- (2)
- My work organization makes me believe that I am included in it;
- (3)
- I feel I am an ‘insider’ in my work organization;
- (4)
- I feel like I am an ‘outsider’ at this organization (R);
- (5)
- I don’t feel included in this organization (R);
- (6)
- My work organization makes me frequently feel ‘left-out’ (R).
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Models | Variables | χ2 | df | χ2/df | RMSEA | IFI | TLI | CFI |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Four-factor model | WCA, PIS, SL, C | 484.11 | 224 | 2.16 | 0.07 | 0.90 | 0.88 | 0.90 |
Three-factor model | WCA+PIS, SL, C | 1048.74 | 227 | 4.62 | 0.12 | 0.67 | 0.63 | 0.67 |
Two-factor model | WCA+PIS+SL, C | 1203.05 | 229 | 5.25 | 0.13 | 0.61 | 0.57 | 0.61 |
One-factor model | WCA+PIS+SL+C | 1249.36 | 230 | 5.43 | 0.13 | 0.59 | 0.55 | 0.59 |
Variables | Means | Standard Deviation | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. Gender | 0.52 | 0.50 | |||||||
2. Age | 2.20 | 0.62 | −0.15 * | ||||||
3. Education | 2.84 | 0.62 | 0.01 | −0.09 | |||||
4. Tenure | 2.90 | 1.08 | −0.18 ** | 0.62 ** | −0.00 | ||||
5. After-hours work challenge | 3.37 | 0.83 | −0.04 | 0.01 | 0.026 | 0.06 | |||
6. Perceived insider status | 4.20 | 0.57 | 0.04 | 0.07 | 0.17 ** | 0.22 ** | 0.19 ** | ||
7. Servant leadership | 3.91 | 0.58 | −0.01 | 0.04 | 0.10 | 0.13 * | 0.28 ** | 0.66 ** | |
8. Creativity | 4.02 | 0.60 | 0.11 | −0.03 | 0.12 * | 0.13 * | 0.37 ** | 0.42 ** | 0.68 ** |
Variables | Perceived Insider Status | Creativity | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Model 1 | Model 2 | Model 3 | Model 4 | Model 5 | Model 6 | |
Gender | 0.07 | 0.08 | 0.13 * | 0.10 | 0.14 * | 0.12 * |
Age | −0.09 | −0.08 | −0.16 * | −0.13 | −0.15 * | −0.13 |
Education | 0.16 ** | 0.16 ** | 0.11 | 0.04 | 0.10 | 0.05 |
Tenure | 0.29 ** | 0.28 ** | 0.26 ** | 0.15 ** | 0.23 ** | 0.14 * |
After-hours work challenge | 0.17 ** | 0.36 ** | 0.31 ** | |||
Perceived insider status | 0.38 ** | 0.33 ** | ||||
F | 6.42 ** | 6.96 ** | 4.69 ** | 13.05 ** | 12.76 ** | 17.72 ** |
ΔF | 6.42 | 8.40 | 4.69 | 43.48 | 42.14 | 34.37 |
R2 | 0.09 | 0.12 | 0.07 | 0.20 | 0.20 | 0.29 |
ΔR2 | 0.09 | 0.03 | 0.07 | 0.13 | 0.13 | 0.09 |
Indirect effects | mediation of perceived | Effect | BootSE | BootLLCL | BootULCL | |
insider status | 0.05 | 0.02 | 0.02 | 0.08 |
Variables | Model 1 | Model 2 | Model 3 | Model 4 |
---|---|---|---|---|
(Constant) | −0.80 ** | −0.79 ** | −0.54 ** | −0.58 ** |
Gender | 0.08 | 0.09 | 0.07 | 0.08 |
Age | −0.08 | −0.07 | −0.05 | −0.06 |
Education | 0.15 ** | 0.15 ** | 0.09 * | 0.10 * |
Tenure | 0.15 ** | 0.15 ** | 0.10 ** | 0.10 ** |
After-hours work challenges | 0.12 ** | 0.00 | −0.06 | |
Servant leadership | 0.61 ** | 0.65 ** | ||
After-hours work challenge * Servant leadership | 0.24 ** | |||
F | 6.42 ** | 6.96 ** | 38.47 ** | 36.36 ** |
ΔF | 6.42 | 8.40 | 173.18 | 12.98 |
R2 | 0.09 | 0.12 | 0.47 | 0.50 |
ΔR2 | 0.089 | 0.03 | 0.35 | 0.03 |
Level | Conditional Indirect Effects | BootSE | BootLLCI | BootULCI | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Servant leadership | Low (mean − 1SD) | −0.07 | 0.03 | −0.12 | −0.02 |
High (mean + 1SD) | 0.03 | 0.01 | 0.00 | 0.06 | |
Difference | 0.10 | 0.27 | 0.04 | 0.15 | |
The moderated mediation effect | Judging indicators | Index | BootSE | BootLLCI | BootULCI |
0.08 | 0.02 | 0.04 | 0.13 |
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Ren, F.; Zhou, Y.; Song, Z. After-Hours Work Challenges and Employee Creativity: A Moderated Mediation Model. Sustainability 2024, 16, 7610. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16177610
Ren F, Zhou Y, Song Z. After-Hours Work Challenges and Employee Creativity: A Moderated Mediation Model. Sustainability. 2024; 16(17):7610. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16177610
Chicago/Turabian StyleRen, Fengmei, Yuerong Zhou, and Zhigang Song. 2024. "After-Hours Work Challenges and Employee Creativity: A Moderated Mediation Model" Sustainability 16, no. 17: 7610. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16177610