Linking Responsible Leadership to Employee Creativity: Insights from Knowledge Donation Practices in Higher Education

Abstract

The administrative employees in public sector higher educational institutions (PHEIs) play an equally important role in the development of the institutions. Thus, their creativity can help the institutions to perform better and enhance their quality. Prior studies have mainly focused on the creativity of teachers, while overlooking the importance of administrative employees' creativity. Therefore, this research aimed to determine the factors leading to the creativity of employees working at different administrative posts in public sector higher educational institutions (PHEIs). It examined the role of responsible leadership on knowledge donation and employee creativity. Moreover, it aimed to determine the mediating role of knowledge donation in the relationship between responsible leadership and employee creativity. The data were gathered from 434 administrative employees in public sector higher educational institutions (PHEIs) of Punjab, Pakistan. The results highlighted that responsible leadership significantly influences the knowledge donation and employee creativity. Furthermore, knowledge donation partially mediates the relationship between responsible leadership and creativity of administrative employees working at different administrative posts in public sector higher educational institutions.