Exploitation and exploration as links between psychological empowerment and creativity

Abstract

This paper examines the mediating effect of ambidexterity (exploitation and exploration) between psychological empowerment and creativity. We found that psychological empowerment had strong influence on exploitation, exploration and creativity, and that exploration had a mediating effect between psychological empowerment and creativity. However, exploitation had little influence on creativity for two-tailed test. In this respect, organizations should delegate power to employees to build the high level of innovation and creativity. Moreover, mangers need to heed exploration as a radical innovation in order to increase creativity. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media.