More Willing to Learn from Similar Creative Role Models? The Effects of Similarity with Creative Role Model on Employee Creativity

Abstract

Abstract: Based on the social cognitive theory, this study theorizes a cross-level moderated mediation model about the differential effects of similarity with creative role model on employee radical and incremental creativity. By conducting an experimental study of 165 participants and a multi-stage and multi-source field survey of 123 R&D teams, this study finds that the similarity with creative role model is positively related to employee radical and incremental creativity through the chain mediating effect of creative self-efficacy and creative process engagement. Besides, compared with incremental creativity, the similarity with creative role model has a stronger indirect effect on radical creativity. In addition, the findings also show that the team status promotion criteria positively moderates the indirect relationships between similarity with creative role model and radical and incremental creativity. The findings of this study provide important theoretical and practical implications for organizations to set creative role models to drive employee creativity, especially radical creativity.

Pan Xiaoqing, Li Bo, Zhu Renqi, Liu Zhiqiang, Pan Lin. More Willing to Learn from Similar Creative Role Models? The Effects of Similarity with Creative Role Model on Employee Creativity[J]. Management Review, 2026, 38(3): 130-146.

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