Research on the mechanism of perceived psychological power’s impact on employees’ creative ideas: a moderated chain mediation model

Purpose This study aims to uncover the mechanism of how employees’ perceived psychological power impacts their creative ideas. It addresses a gap in existing research by proposing a dual-pathway model that incorporates both knowledge sharing and knowledge hiding as mediating behaviors, and examines the moderating role of leadership style in this process, based on equity heuristic theory and the cognitive appraisal theory of emotions. Design/methodology/approach The research employs a mixed-methods approach. First, a qualitative case study of a state-owned enterprise in China was conducted, involving in-depth interviews, and document analysis. The data were analyzed using a three-stage grounded theory coding process. Subsequently, a quantitative three-wave, multi-source survey was administered to 612 employee-supervisor dyads from various industries in China to empirically test the proposed hypotheses. Findings The research finds that task-oriented leadership fosters positive emotions in employees, encouraging greater knowledge sharing and enhancing creative ideas, while low-relationship-oriented leadership intensifies negative emotions, leading to increased knowledge hiding behaviors and reduced creative ideas. Originality/value It highlights the importance of perceived power and introduces a perspective on how power perception influences employees’ motivations through fairness, thereby enhancing our understanding of the motivational effects of psychological power.