The Trickle-down Approach Study Of Creativity From Leaders To Subordinates

Creativity is the premise of innovation. Nowadays, more and moreresearchers and managers at home and abroad pay much attention tocreativity. In the practice, leaders as the representative of organization, isone of the most essential factors that affecting subordinates’ creativity.Under this topic, the current study based on cognitive social learning theoryand trickle-down approach, studied the mediating effect of knowledgesharing intention and knowledge collection intention. Using a sample of342dyads from diversified industries, the study indicated that leaders with highcreativity will affect subordinates to be more willing to share knowledgeand collect knowledge, thus promoting subordinates to have higher creativethoughts or ideas. At the mean time, considering the relationship betweenleaders and subordinates,as theexternal factor, will also affect subordinates’behavior. So the study also tested the moderating effect of cognitive trustfromsubordinates’view. The study not only can promote empirical study oncreativity, but also has implications for management practice in a Chinesecontext.