ABSTRACT

Research Question: The purpose of this study was to explore and develop pathways to sport employee creativity. Currently, the literature is devoid of content regarding sport employee creativity, which is concerning given the benefits of creativity for employees and organizations. We utilized both quantitative and qualitative methods to evaluate how authentic leadership, emotional intelligence, and job engagement cultivate creativity.

Research Methods: A sequential explanatory mixed-methods design was used to examine sport employee creativity. Within this design, we first conducted a quantitative analysis using structural equation modeling (N = 308). Then we applied a qualitative analysis by way of semi-structured interviews (N = 12) to develop inferences about the findings from the quantitative strand. All participants worked in the United States of America.

Results and Findings: The results indicated that authentic leadership diminished sport employees’ creative behaviors, but emotional intelligence independently predicted both job engagement and creative behaviors. Job engagement was also found to partially mediate the relationship between emotional intelligence and creative behaviors. The qualitative strand provided rationale for the results including the value of emotional intelligence for sport employees and how constant personnel changes, perceived fakeness, and bureaucracies and micromanagement detracted from authentic leadership’s positive influences.

Implications: Creativity was found to be a valued concept in sport organizations, and the inferences gained from the study can support creativity’s development. Also, sport organizations might consider altering their organizational structure if they desire to promote creativity in their workplaces.

摘要

研究问题：本研究的目的是探索和开发运动员工创造力的途径。目前，文献缺乏关于体育员工创造力的内容，考虑到创造力对员工和组织的好处，这是有关的。我们使用定量和定性方法来评估真正的领导力、情商和工作投入如何培养创造力。

研究方法：采用顺序解释性混合方法设计来检验体育员工的创造力。在这个设计中，我们首先使用结构方程模型（ N  = 308）进行了定量分析。然后，我们通过半结构化访谈 ( N  = 12) 进行定性分析，以对定量链的发现进行推断。所有参与者都在美利坚合众国工作。

结果和发现：结果表明，真正的领导力削弱了体育员工的创造性行为，但情商独立地预测了工作投入和创造性行为。还发现工作投入在部分中介情绪智力和创造性行为之间的关系。定性方面为结果提供了基本原理，包括情商对体育员工的价值，以及不断的人事变动、感知的虚假、官僚主义和微观管理如何削弱真正领导的积极影响。

启示：在体育组织中，创造力被认为是一个有价值的概念，从研究中获得的推论可以支持创造力的发展。此外，如果体育组织希望在工作场所促进创造力，他们可能会考虑改变其组织结构。