Humble leadership and employee creative performance: serial effects of job embeddedness and knowledge sharing

Purpose This study aims to examine how owner-managers’ humble leadership influences employee creative performance by exploring the serial mediating roles of job embeddedness and knowledge sharing. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 386 owner-managers and employees from small and medium-sized enterprises in Ghana and the hypotheses were tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling. Findings The findings show that humble leadership by owner-managers has a positive effect on employees’ creative performance. Employee job embeddedness acts as a mediator in the relationship between humble leadership and creativity, whereas knowledge sharing alone does not. Notably, a serial mediation effect reveals that humble leadership first enhances job embeddedness, which then promotes knowledge sharing, ultimately leading to higher levels of employee creative performance. Practical implications Owner-managers should demonstrate humility, seek feedback and value employees’ contributions to foster psychological safety and encourage idea sharing. They can build trust by recognizing contributions, providing constructive feedback, encouraging experimentation and creating forums for discussion. Leadership development should emphasize emotional intelligence, self-awareness and relational skills alongside technical expertise. Support organizations and policymakers can reinforce these practices through programs that promote participative and people-centered leadership. Originality/value This study presents a novel multilevel framework showing how humble leadership influences employee creativity via job embeddedness and knowledge sharing, two key employee-level factors. By integrating social exchange theory and positive organizational scholarship, it highlights the relational and psychological mechanisms through which humble owner-managers promote discretionary and creative behaviors under structural constraints.