Psychological Capital as a Mediator of the Relationship between Leadership and Creative Performance Behaviors: Empirical Evidence from the Indian R&D Sector

Abstract

The present study tests the relationships between leader behaviors, psychological capital and employee creative performance behaviors in the Indian R&D context. A survey-based study was conducted in 11 government-owned R&D laboratories across India and 496 usable responses were collected. Data analysis, performed using Structural Equation Modeling technique, revealed that psychological capital fully mediates the relationship between leadership and creative behaviors. The study provides an insight into the underlying process through which leadership impacts employee creativity. The characteristics of R&D professionals (more educated, and having distinct goal orientations) and the nature of R&D projects (high risks of failures, uncertain processes) make R&D a unique and interesting context to study. To the best of our knowledge this study is first of its kind to be conducted in the R&D context.