IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i17p7610-d1469903.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

After-Hours Work Challenges and Employee Creativity: A Moderated Mediation Model

Author

Listed:
  • Fengmei Ren

    (School of Management, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China)

  • Yuerong Zhou

    (School of Foreign Languages and Business, Shenzhen Polytechnic University, Shenzhen 518055, China)

  • Zhigang Song

    (Antai College of Economics & Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, China)

Abstract

Based on the social exchange theory, this paper constructs a moderated mediation model to explore the influence of after-hours work challenges after-hours on employee creativity. By collecting 268 questionnaires from Chinese employees and employing hierarchical regression and bootstrapping to test the hypotheses, the results show that after-hours work challenges can enhance employee creativity by improving their perceived insider status. Servant leadership, as a moderator, strengthens both the direct effect of after-hours work challenges on perceived insider status and the indirect effect on employee creativity. This research enriches the creativity and work design literature by addressing the previously unexplored relationship between after-hours work challenges and employee creativity. The study reveals that after-hours work assigned to employees needs to be challenging so that employees can experience personal development through completing it. Additionally, leaders’ support and care during the after-hours work process are essential.

Suggested Citation

  • Fengmei Ren & Yuerong Zhou & Zhigang Song, 2024. "After-Hours Work Challenges and Employee Creativity: A Moderated Mediation Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-15, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:17:p:7610-:d:1469903
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/17/7610/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/17/7610/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shao, Yan & Nijstad, Bernard A. & Täuber, Susanne, 2019. "Creativity under workload pressure and integrative complexity: The double-edged sword of paradoxical leadership," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 7-19.
    2. April Yue, Cen, 2022. "The paradox of using public social media for work: The influence of after-hours work communication on employee outcomes," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 748-759.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chih-Hsing Liu & Quoc Phong La & Yen-Ling Ng & Rullyana Puspitaningrum Mamengko, 2023. "Discovering the Sustainable Innovation Service Process of Organizational Environment, Information Sharing and Satisfaction: The Moderating Roles of Pressure," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-26, July.
    2. Zuzana Lušňáková & Silvia Lenčéšová & Veronika Hrdá & Mária Šajbidorová, 2020. "Innovative Processes Within Communication and Motivation, Work Environment Care and Creativity Support of Human Resources," Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, Mendel University Press, vol. 68(2), pages 395-405.
    3. Ying Xue & Xiyuan Li & Hao Liang & Yuan Li, 2020. "How Does Paradoxical Leadership Affect Employees’ Voice Behaviors in Workplace? A Leader-Member Exchange Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-24, February.
    4. Heesun Chae & Jisung Park, 2023. "The Effects of Routinization on Radical and Incremental Creativity: The Mediating Role of Mental Workloads," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-15, February.
    5. Wei, Wu & Zhou, Ying & Wang, Danni, 2023. "Learning to integrate conflicts: Paradoxical leadership fosters team innovation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    6. Miron-Spektor, Ella & Emich, Kyle J. & Argote, Linda & Smith, Wendy K., 2022. "Conceiving opposites together: Cultivating paradoxical frames and epistemic motivation fosters team creativity," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    7. Palmié, Maximilian & Parida, Vinit & Mader, Anna & Wincent, Joakim, 2023. "Clarifying the scaling concept: A review, definition, and measure of scaling performance and an elaborate agenda for future research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    8. Rong Zhou & Zhilin Luo & Shunbin Zhong & Xinhua Zhang & Yihui Liu, 2022. "The Impact of Social Media on Employee Mental Health and Behavior Based on the Context of Intelligence-Driven Digital Data," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-20, December.
    9. Mannucci, Pier Vittorio & Shalley, Christina E., 2022. "Embracing multicultural tensions: How team members’ multicultural paradox mindsets foster team information elaboration and creativity," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    10. Xizi Wang & Guangwei Hu & Yuanyuan Shu & Wenfeng Si, 2024. "Determining the Equilibrium Point between Efficiency and Well-Being in Enterprise Social Media Usage: A Hybrid Approach Using Response Surfaces and Optimization Methods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-21, August.
    11. Waldman, David A. & Putnam, Linda L. & Miron-Spektor, Ella & Siegel, Donald, 2019. "The role of paradox theory in decision making and management research," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 1-6.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:17:p:7610-:d:1469903. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.