The effects of job characteristics on the team creativity of distribution companies: Moderating effects of transformational leadership

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the causal relationship between job characteristics and creativity. The role of transformational leadership is also examined. To identify the relationship between core team job characteristics and transformational leadership, an empirical survey was conducted through surveys of domestic distribution companies. Among the collected questionnaires, missing and insincere responses were excluded and 636 individuals of 107 teams were used for the SPSS 18 analysis. It was found that job meaningfulness was positively related to team creativity and transformational leadership also had a significant effect. Task feedback was shown to be an important factor on the motivation to perform tasks successfully. In the case of transformational leadership, this leadership style helped individuals overcome fear by providing support, sympathy, and consideration to create novel ideas. But, its effects were different on team creativity when it interacted with core job characteristics. Departments where creativity is highly emphasized within an organization are able to design job characteristics which fit the task at hand. Moreover, transformational leadership brings about different effects on team creativity when it interacts with job characteristics. The findings of this study suggest that organizations should consider characteristics of tasks and individuals as well when conducting education and training.