Voice Contributes to Creativity via Leaders’ Endorsement Especially When Proposed by Extraverted High Performance Employees

PURPOSE: Drawing on social judgement theory and the self-determination theory, this study aims to test the moderating roles of employees’ extraversion and task performance in the effects of employees’ voice on leaders’ endorsement, as well as the mediating role of leaders’ voice endorsement in the relationship between employees’ voice and creativity, and more importantly, the moderated mediation model. METHODS: A total of 250 employees and their direct leaders participated in the two-wave multi-source survey. To examine the hypotheses, we conducted the hierarchical regression and bootstrapping analyses on the basis of Hayes PROCESS Model. RESULTS: Findings revealed that both extraversion and task performance serve as moderators in the effects of employees’ voice on leaders’ voice endorsement. Leaders’ voice endorsement significantly mediates the relationship between employees’ voice and creativity. More importantly, the results indicated that the indirect effect of leaders’ voice endorsement on the association of employees’ voice and creativity is significantly positive only when the employees are extraverted high performers, that is, there is a significant moderated mediation. CONCLUSION: The present study extends the current literature by exploring the moderated mediation mechanism between employees’ voice, extraversion, task performance, leaders’ voice endorsement, and employees’ creativity. Our findings recommend leaders to be aware of the mediating role of their endorsement of employees’ voice and the moderating roles of employees’ extraversion and performance in linking employees’ voice to their creativity.