Enhancing employee creativity for a sustainable competitive advantage through perceived human resource management practices and trust in management

Abstract

This study explores the black box of the relationship between perceived human resource management (HRM) practices and employees' creativity. Building on the literatures on social exchange and creativity, this study advances a moderated mediation framework of the link between perceived HRM practices and employees' creativity. We develop the argument that the positive relationship between perceived HRM practices and employees' creativity is mediated by trust in management and that the mediated relationship is stronger for permanent employees than for temporary employees. Our study finds strong support for the moderated mediation model in a survey study of 285 employees in 14 research institutes funded by the Korean government. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.