In this study, we explore why employees in collectivistic cultures have been found to show less creativity than those in individualistic cultures. At the macro level, we propose that the effect can be attributed to lower general self-efficacy among employees in collectivistic cultures. At the micro level, we hypothesize that, within a collectivistic cultural context, those who experience higher structural empowerment will have a higher level of creativity, due to their higher general self-efficacy. We also propose that this relationship is stronger if employees have higher individualistic value orientation. We test these hypotheses in two studies with online samples, the first from Taiwan and the United States (Study 1) and the second from Taiwan (Study 2). The results of both studies confirm our hypotheses. We discuss implications of our findings in terms of culture, general self-efficacy, empowerment, and creativity.
