Abstract

Individual feelings of energy (IFE), creative work involvement (CWI) and leadermember exchange (LMX) are understudied areas in Pakistan. The purposes of this study are: a) to analyze the mediating role of LMX on the relationship between IFE and CWI; and b) to evaluate whether the LMX relationship mediates differently for non-managerial staff, supervisors, middle and senior managers. A sample of 300 responses is drawn from the manufacturing companies of Karachi using a questionnaire administered to them. Exploratory factor analysis is used to extract three orthogonal constructs (namely, IFE, CWI, and LMX) and their convergent and discriminant validity are established through confirmatory factor analysis. Both composite and MaxR(H) statistics are estimated to ensure the reliability of the three constructs. The results show that LMX partially mediates the positive relationship between IFE and CWI. In addition, the results of the multi-group mediation analysis for different levels of responsibility show that LMX partially mediates in case of middle and senior management only. However, it does not mediate for non-managerial staff and supervisors. The most important theoretical contribution of the study in the existing knowledge of leadership-creativity relationship is that LMX partially mediates the relationship between IFE and CWI. Besides, this is one of the first reports in the context of the manufacturing companies of Pakistan.