Transformational Leadership, Diversity, and Creativity at Work

223 Pages·2016·0.79 MB·English

Portland State University
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Dissertations and Teses Dissertations and Teses
Spring 6-3-2015
Transformational Leadership, Diversity, and Creativity at Work: A
Moderated Mediation Model
Aisha Smith Taylor
Portland State University
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Taylor, Aisha Smith, "Transformational Leadership, Diversity, and Creativity at Work: A Moderated Mediation Model" (2015).
Dissertations and Teses. Paper 2341.
10.15760/etd.2338
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Transformational Leadership, Diversity, and Creativity at Work:
A Moderated Mediation Model

by
Aisha Smith Taylor

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy
in
Applied Psychology

Dissertation Committee:
Keith James, Chair
Todd Bodner
Sully Taylor
Liu-Qin Yang

Portland State University
2015
© 2015 Aisha Smith Taylor
Abstract
Organizational leaders often seek to hire and retain innovative employees as a source of
competitive advantage. Both transformational leadership and effectively managed
workplace diversity have been theorized and shown to lead to increased employee
creative performance at work; however, a full model of the relationships between
leadership and the multi-dimensional construct of workplace diversity has not yet been
tested. Using a sample of 371 employees in three Chinese high-technology firms matched
with 64 supervisors collected at three time points, this study theorized and tested a
moderated mediation path model in which transformational leadership and diversity
climate were predicted to significantly interact to influence the workplace diversity
constructs of organizational justice and organizational identity, which in turn, influence
individual creative performance. Based on major theories of leadership, diversity, and
creativity, several partial mediation hypotheses are presented, including diversity climate
as a mediator of the relationship between transformational leadership and creative
performance as well as organizational justice and organizational identity as mediators of
the relationship between the interaction of transformational leadership and diversity
climate and creative performance. Several single- and multilevel path analyses were
conducted to test the model, using two measures of creative performance: self-ratings and
supervisor ratings. The results showed that the interaction of transformational leadership
and diversity climate significantly predicted self-rated creative performance, and
organizational identity significantly predicted supervisor ratings of creative performance.
In addition, transformational leadership was found to significantly predict diversity
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climate and organizational justice was a significant predictor of organizational identity.
Finally, transformational leadership had a significant indirect effect on creative
performance through diversity climate. The contributions of this study to three major
bodies of literature, as well as the implications of the results for research and practice, are
discussed.

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Dedication
This dissertation is dedicated to Bonnie Smith, my mother, who instilled in me a
love of learning and a desire to attain the highest level of education. This achievement is
a result of regular weekend trips to the library, numerous book orders in elementary
school, and strong encouragement to read as a child and young adult. She gave me the
greatest gift in the world – a hunger to learn from everyone and everything around me,
especially books. Thank you, Mom! I love you.
I dedicate the completion of my doctoral program to Gene Smith – the walk
across the stage is for you, Gene! I hope it makes you smile from your place in the
universe.
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my adviser, Dr. Keith James, for making it possible for me
to attend graduate school. I am grateful for the opportunity to work with this data set,
which combines three of my greatest research and life interests: diversity, leadership, and
creativity. While the road has been long and bumpy, it has been a privilege to study these
topics in an in-depth manner. Dr. James made this achievement possible and provided
helpful and constructive feedback throughout the doctoral program.
Throughout the six years of this program, my parents, Bonnie Smith, David
Taylor, and Judy Taylor, have consistently offered their unconditional love, support, and
understanding, even when I could not give much in return. I am incredibly grateful for all
the ways they have supported me over the past six years.
Adam Murry has my undying gratitude for the hours we spent thinking about and
talking through the statistical analysis and interpretation of this study. For six years,
Adam has been a stalwart support in my academic pursuits and a true friend who has
supported me in both big and small ways.
Finally, I would like to thank my close friends for providing a listening ear and a
voice of reason during the times when motivation was difficult to muster. Specifically, I
express gratitude to Cailin Daly, Rekha Rao, Brooke Dayton, Kealani Balfour, Sarah Van
Dyck, Roxana Gutierrez, and Kathleen Celmins. I could not have completed this study or
this program without the support of those named here and many others. It truly does take
a community, and I am very grateful to have such a supportive and loving one.
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Table of Contents
Abstract ................................................................................................................................ i 
Dedication .......................................................................................................................... iii 
Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iv 
List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... vi 
List of Figures ................................................................................................................... vii 
Chapter 1: Theoretical Design and Overview ......................................................................1 
Chapter 2: Transformational Leadership ...........................................................................13 
Chapter 3: Workplace Diversity ........................................................................................17 
Chapter 4: Workplace Creativity and Innovation ..............................................................35 
Chapter 5: Prior Research and Hypotheses ........................................................................43 
Chapter 6: Method .............................................................................................................62 
Chapter 7: Results ..............................................................................................................71 
Chapter 8: Discussion ........................................................................................................92 
References ........................................................................................................................169 
Appendix: Scale Items .....................................................................................................208 

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List of Tables
Table 1. Typology of Work Team Diversity...................................................................138
Table 2. Overview of Measures by Source and Data Collection Timing........................139
Table 3. Results of Single-level Confirmatory Factor Analyses for Main and Control
Variables..........................................................................................................................140
Table 4. Results of Multilevel Confirmatory Factor Analyses for Main and Control
Variables..........................................................................................................................141
Table 5. CFA Results of Comparative Models for Transformational Leadership...........142
Table 6. CFA Results of Comparative Models for the Workplace Diversity Inventory.143
Table 7. Means and Standard Deviations of Demographic Variables.............................144
Table 8. Means, Standard Deviations, Reliability Estimates, and Correlations for Main
and Control Variables......................................................................................................145
Table 9. Level of Nesting in Focal Variables by Team...................................................146
Table 10. Level of Nesting in Focal Variables by Organization.....................................147
Table 11. Hypothesis Tests Results.................................................................................148
Table 12. Model Fit Indices for ECP Model and SCP Models........................................149
Table 13. ECP Model: Single-level Path Analysis Results for Taxonomy of Workplace
Diversity Variables..........................................................................................................150
Table 14. ECP Model: Single-level Path Analysis Results for Self-rated Creative
Performance.....................................................................................................................151
Table 15. Pseudo R-Square Values for Multi-level Models............................................152
Table 16. ECP Model: Multi-level Path Analysis Results for Taxonomy of Workplace
Diversity Variables..........................................................................................................153
Table 17. ECP Model: Multi-level Path Analysis Results for Employee Self-rated
Creative Performance.......................................................................................................154
Table 18. SCP Model: Multi-level Path Analysis Results for Taxonomy of Workplace
Diversity Variables..........................................................................................................155
Table 19. SCP Model: Multi-level Path Analysis Results for Supervisor-rated Creativity
..........................................................................................................................................156
Table 20. Results of Indirect Effects Testing...................................................................157
Table 21. Exploratory SCP Model: Multi-level Path Analysis Results for Taxonomy of
Workplace Diversity Variables........................................................................................158
Table 22. Exploratory SCP Model: Multi-level Path Analysis Results for Self-rated
Creativity..........................................................................................................................159
Table 23. Exploratory SCP Model: Multi-level Path Analysis Results for Supervisor-
rated Creativity.................................................................................................................160
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List of Figures

Figure 1. Hypothesized Relationships between Leadership, Diversity, and Creativity...161
Figure 2. Expanded Componential Theory of Creativity.................................................162
Figure 3. ECP Model: Single-level Path Analysis Results..............................................163
Figure 4. ECP Model: Multi-level Path Analysis Results...............................................164
Figure 5. SCP Model: Multi-level Path Analysis Results...............................................165
Figure 6. Exploratory Multilevel Path Analysis Results with ECP Predicting SCP.......166
Figure 7. ECP Model: Interaction of Transformational Leadership and Diversity Climate
in Predicting Organizational Justice................................................................................167
Figure 8. Multilevel ECP Model: Interaction of Transformational Leadership and
Diversity Climate in Predicting ECP...............................................................................168

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