Can leaders’ and teams’ expectations encourage creative performance? A multilevel mediation study

To cultivate creative graduates capable of adaptability and critical thinking, understanding how social contexts shape creative performance is essential. However, limited empirical research addresses how expectations from multiple social levels simultaneously drive creative outcomes in collaborative learning environments. Integrating Expectancy-Value Theory (EVT) within the creative performance framework, this study investigates the perceived expectations for creativity from leaders and team members on individuals’ creative performance, and whether these effects are mediated by self-expectations for creativity. A multilevel modeling approach was used on a dataset comprising 334 graduate university students nested within 72 project teams. These students were enrolled in product design and entrepreneurship courses emphasizing group-based idea generation. Multilevel analysis confirmed that both perceived leader’s expectation for creativity and the team members’ expectation for creativity significantly enhance individual creative performance. Furthermore, self-expectation for creativity was found to mediate the relationships. This study illustrates the multilevel role of leaders’ expectations, individual self-expectations, and team-level social norms in promoting creative performance. This thereby advances our understanding of the social and psychological drivers of creative behavior in collaborative settings.