13679: Leadership in Play: How Does Leader Playful Behavior Ignite Employee Creativity? (session 25587)

Monday, July 28, 2025

08:30 - 10:00 CEST (GMT+2)

Location: Bella Center: Hall B- B2-m9

Session Type: Paper Session
Shareable link: https://cdmcd.co/vaA5Pz

Author(s)

FZ

Fangsheng Zhu

Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
MD

Minhui Duan

Jinan University, China
WF

Wei Fan

school of management, Jinan U.
YT

Yipeng Tang

Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, China
TJ

Tina Rongwen Jia

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China

Existing research on playfulness in organizational contexts has predominantly focused on employees, with limited attention given to the role of leaders. Drawing on social information process (SIP) theory, this study aims to fill this gap by examining the influence of leader playful behavior on employee creativity. Results from a paired questionnaire survey conducted at three time points involving 72 groups comprising 358 leaders and employees indicate that leader playful behavior is positively related to employee creativity; and creative process engagement (CPE) mediates the relationship between leader playful behavior and employee creativity. Additionally, employee openness to experience enhances the positive relationship while employee traditionality weakens the relationship. Our study helps advance the current understanding of playfulness by shedding light on the influence of leader playful behavior in leadership processes.

view paper (if available)