From Autonomy to Creativity: The Critical Role of Harmonious Passion
Dong Liu, Georgia Institute of Technology; Xiao-Ping Chen, University of Washington; and Xin Yao, University of Colorado.
We conducted two studies to demonstrate the pivotal role of harmonious passion in translating organizational autonomy support and individual autonomy orientation into job creativity. Results based on data from 856 members in 111 teams within 23 work units of a porous metal company (Study 1) and from 525 employees in 98 teams of 18 branches of a large commercial bank (Study 2) in China revealed two major findings. First, harmonious passion was encouraged when higher organizational levels (units or branches) supported organizational autonomy, which compensated for the lack of autonomy support from lower organizational levels (teams) or weak individual autonomy orientations. Second, harmonious passion served as a conduit through which work autonomy was converted to work creativity.
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