THE IMPACT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY ON EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY: THE ROLES OF KNOWLEDGE SHARING, KNOWLEDGE HIDING, AND ORGANIZATIONAL SAFETY CLIMATE

Abstract

Employee creativity is crucial for fostering organisational innovation and maintaining competitiveness. This research investigates the relationship between psychological safety (PS) and employee creativity (EC), emphasising the mediating effects of knowledge sharing (KS) and knowledge concealment (KH), grounded in organisational support theory (OST). We hypothesise that PS enhances EC, with KS and KH serving as mediators, and that organisational safety climate (OSC) moderates these relationships. To test these hypotheses, we conducted a survey of 757 skilled workers in Chinese manufacturing firms using a quantitative approach. The direct and indirect relationships between PS and EC, as well as KS and KH, were examined through path analysis using structural equation modelling. The moderating effect of OSC was assessed via regression analysis. The findings indicate that PS positively influences EC, while KS and KH mediate the relationship between the two. This study suggests that fostering psychological security for employees can be effectively approached from the perspective of organisational support theory. Organisations should prioritise employee well-being, enhancing their psychological security to stimulate their initiative and willingness to share knowledge, thereby promoting creativity development. Furthermore, a robust OSC strengthens the positive impact of PS on KS and mitigates its relationship with KH. This moderating effect challenges conventional notions that organisational climate solely influences employee behaviour. By exploring the moderating role of OSC in the relationship between employee PS and both KS and KH, this study offers a more intuitive and systematic insight into the impact of organisational-level factors on EC performance. The study concludes with discussions on both theoretical and practical implications