Empowering creativity of fashion retail employees in retail automation: the impact of coaching leadership and the perceived ease of use

Purpose The purpose of this study was to understand the role of coaching leadership, self-determination theory (SDT) and perceived ease of use of in-store automation technology (ISAT) on the fashion retail frontline employees’ creativity in adopting and managing ISATs. Specifically, the study examined the impact of coaching leadership, psychological mechanisms and the moderating role of perceived ease of use of ISATs on fashion frontline employees’ creativity. Design/methodology/approach An online survey from fashion retail frontline employees (n = 311) was collected via Qualtrics software through Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Partial least squares structural equation modeling by using SmartPLS 4.0 was performed for the analysis. Findings The findings highlighted the significant role of the facilitation of coaching leadership, intrinsic motivation and autonomy in positively influencing fashion frontline employees’ creativity in managing ISATs. Interestingly, the effect of the guidance of coaching leadership on creativity was mediated by intrinsic motivation and autonomy of psychological needs in SDT. Furthermore, the moderating role of ISAT's ease of use was found to have distinct effects on employees’ psychological mechanisms, further enhancing their creativity. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first studies to examine fashion frontline employees’ creativity by incorporating coaching leadership, SDT and perceived ease of use. This study challenges the traditional understanding of the positive role of perceived ease of use in technology adoption and performance, offering new insights into the nuanced relationship between perceived ease of use and technology-driven creativity within the context of retail automation.