How Does Conscientiousness Relate to Employee Creativity? An Exploratory Study of Frontline Technical Workers †

Abstract

Building on the interactionist perspective of organizational creativity, we investigated the relationship between conscientiousness and employee creativity. We surveyed 260 frontline technical workers and their supervisors at three Chinese manufacturing enterprises. The results showed a positive relationship between conscientiousness and employee creativity. We also found a three-way interaction effect between conscientiousness, perceived time pressure, and trust in one’s leader, which impacts employee creativity. We ended by discussing both the theoretical and managerial implications.