Digital leadership, work climate and employee creativity: a moderated mediation model

Abstract

Against the backdrop of digital transformation reshaping organizational environments, digital leadership at the executive level has emerged as a critical determinant for enterprises to gain a competitive advantage. This research focuses on Generation Z employees, the core demographic of digital natives, and investigates the mechanisms underlying the stimulation of their creativity. Based on survey data collected from 301 Generation Z employees, this research constructed and tested a moderated mediation model. Executives’ digital leadership significantly and positively enhances employee creativity. This effect is achieved primarily by fostering a positive digital work climate, indicating that it plays a pivotal mediating role. Further analysis identifies employees’ regulatory focus as an important boundary condition: individuals with a promotion focus exhibit a more pronounced increase in creativity under the influence of digital leadership, mediated by the digital work climate, whereas the effect is weaker for those with a prevention focus. This research not only clarifies the core pathway through which digital leadership influences employee creativity (i.e. the mediating role of the digital work climate) but also elucidates how intrinsic motivational tendencies (regulatory focus) differentially modulate the efficacy of this mechanism. These insights have significant theoretical and practical implications for understanding leadership effectiveness in the digital era and stimulating creativity among the new generation of employees.