Enhancing employee creativity in the public sector: The roles of perceived organizational support, servant leadership, and work engagement

Aim/purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how perceived organizational support (POS) and servant leadership (SL) influence employee creativity (EC) in the public sector, with work engagement (WE) serving as a mediating variable. The problem addressed is the limited space for innovation within rigid public bureaucracies, which often hinders employees from expressing creative ideas essential for improving service quality.

Design/methodology/approach – This study employed a quantitative research method using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to test the relationships among variables. The research sample consisted of 397 civil servants from the Jakarta Provincial Government, selected through stratified random sampling across seven administrative regions.

Findings – The study found that POS, SL, and WE all have a positive and significant effect on EC. Both POS and SL exhibited significant, comparable direct effects on creativity. Additionally, WE was shown to partially mediate the relationships between POS and SL and EC. This suggests that when employees feel supported by their organization and empowered by their leaders, they are more engaged in their work, which in turn enhances their creative contributions in the public sector.

Research implications/limitations – The findings imply that fostering organizational support and SL, along with enhancing WE, can effectively boost EC in the public sector. However, the study is limited by its cross-sectional design and focus on a single regional government, which may affect the generalizability of the results.

Originality/value/contribution – This study contributes to the literature by empirically testing an integrated model in which POS and SL are simultaneous predictors of EC, with WE as a partial mediating mechanism, in a public-sector context. The findings clarify the role of WE as a key psychological conduit through which organizational and leadership resources translate into creative behavior within bureaucratic environments.