Help or hindrance? The effects of leader workaholism on employee creativity

Abstract

Although research on leader workaholism is accumulating, the literature does not reach a consensus about its effectiveness, and we still know little about how it affects employee creativity. Therefore, building on transactional stress theory, we explore how and when leader workaholism helps or hampers employee creativity. A multiwave and multisource survey of 272 leader–employee dyads from a state-owned software company indicated that workaholic leaders induced employees’ challenge and hindrance appraisals simultaneously, which in turn influenced employee creativity in opposing manners. Meanwhile, employee resilience amplified the impact of leader workaholism on challenge appraisals and buffered its impact on hindrance appraisals. Taken together, this study makes an initial attempt to unravel the double-edged sword effects of leader workaholism on employee creativity and provides practical insights for leveraging the positive effects of workaholic leaders and countering their negative effects in organizations.